Beyond Earthland
by azami-x
Summary: Lucy wakes up and finds herself in our world- Earth. A land where no one believes in magic and everyone thinks she's crazy! She's now stuck in a mental institution and has no idea how to get home. Will Natsu and the others be able to find a way to get to her? What happens when Natsu decides to go after her? A NaLu fiction
1. Where Am I?

Intro: **Lucy wakes up and finds herself in a strange medical facility with no recollection of how she got there. Who are these strange people who don't seem to believe in magic? Why is she hooked up to all these strange machines? Where are Natsu and the others?**

Disclaimer: _I do now own Fairy Tail._

 _ **Where Am I?**_

She awoke to darkness. Strange and unfamiliar sounds and smells filled the room around her. Her head was throbbing and her side ached. The blonde young women rolled over in bed , squinting in the darkness, trying to make sense of her surroundings. There was a stream of light coming from a partially open door. The blinds were drawn and from what she could tell, it must late at night. Lucy wasn't sure where she was or what she was doing there, but from what she could deduce, it seemed like some kind of medical facility. Last she knew of, she had been walking along a path in the woods, heading toward Natsu and Happy's favorite fishing spot. She was due to meet them there and was bringing lunch as a surprise.

It had been a pretty normal day in Magnolia, the sun shining high above, spring flowers blooming beautifully along the roadside. A light breeze was at her back, softly ruffling her long golden locks as she made her way up to the path to meet her partners. They were taking a break today, and she was actually looking forward to spending a little one on one time with them. They had been working so hard lately that there hadn't been much time for quiet relaxation. Not that she minded working hard. That was all part of being a Fairy Tail wizard, after all. But it was nice to kick back and relax sometimes, too.

The last thing she remembered was wondering how many fish they had caught by now, and after that, she was drawing a blank. Suddenly, she started to feel very cold and alone in this strange place. She couldn't feel or sense her friends anywhere close by. She couldn't sense any sort of magic or spiritual force. It was like everything was just...dead. Flat. Nothing. It felt so cold and empty. She shivered, pulling her knees up closer to her chest. As she shifted, one of the machines shifted. She must be hooked up to these machines. There were so many wires… and barely any light. And it felt like something was piercing her skin…

"Ow! " she yelped at she tugged at a strange tube connected at her forearm. It seemed to connected to bag of liquid suspended from a pole. "What the heck…?" Lucy muttered out loud, thoroughly confused by what she was seeing. At first she thought it was some kind of healing facility, but now she was starting to become convinced that it might be some kind of freaky mad scientist lab or torture chamber.

"I gotta get out of here…" she whispered to herself, frantically looking around. She looked around areas around the bed, finding various buttons and controls, managing to make the bed rise and fall, turn the lights on and off, and turn on and off a very loud boxy looking viewing lacrima with very poor reception quality. However, she failed to figure out how to release herself from this weird bag on a pole thing.

"Having some trouble are we?" a voice suddenly said from behind her and Lucy jumped. She pivoted around on the bed and saw a woman in uniform standing near the doorway. "It's nice to see you finally awake," she added as she approached. Lucy stiffened at the appearance of the stranger, surveying her closely.

The woman appeared to be in her early 50's, had soft, wavy brown hair that was cropped at her shoulders, and a kind, round face. She had a soothing tone to her voice and her eyes lit up when smiled. _Bethany_ her nametag read. She was kind of short, a bit on the heavy side, but no weakling. Her hands were calloused from years on the job, but her warmth and caring demeanor were genuine. Lucy decided she at least seemed okay, at least to ask some questions.

She came over and help Lucy get untwisted from all the wires and turned on the side bed lamp, turning the bright light to the side slightly, so it wasn't so direct and harsh.

"There we are. Now that's a little better, isn't it? You must of woken up with a bit of a start, dear. My name is Bethany and I'll be your nurse during the night shift, so that means until 7 a.m." Bethany smiled gently and nodded a little, then looking at Lucy, as if gauging her reaction. Lucy just stared for a moment, still a bit dumbfounded.

"Where am I? Why am I here? Who are you? What is this place?" Lucy blurted out, shooting off a line of questions at breakneck speed. Bethany held her hands up in a gentle easing motion and chuckled softly.

"Easy dear, one thing at a time, alright? You've just woken up after an awful spill and long sleep. Let's ease ya into this, okay? First off, can you tell me your name, honey?" Bethany asked, gently, patting her arm.

The celestial mage took a deep breath, trying to hold her patience. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am a Celestial Wizard in the Fairy Tail guild of Magnolia, Fiore. And I want to know why you have me locked up in this place!"

Bethany blinked several times, staring at Lucy, as if she had just sprouted 3 forest vulcan heads atop her own and said nothing. After a few moments of silence, Lucy prodded her for a response.

"Well?! Nothing to say?! And why am I hooked up to all these machines?! This thing is like, pierced into my friggin' arm for crying out loud! That's SO not cool! I'd like to talk to someone in charge about getting out of this place." Lucy ranted on.

Bethany looked to take a deep breath, and smiled at Lucy. "Of course dear. Lucy, you said it was? I'll have a doctor come speak to you right away. Don't worry dear. We'll get you fixed right up."

Lucy smiled, trying to show that was she wasn't really looking to start any trouble. She just wanted to be on her way and get home where she belonged. Really, she rather everything be done as peacefully as possible with as little violence and destruction as necessary.

"Oh and by the way? Could you ask around about my Celestial Keys,? I can't seem to find them anywhere around here and I'd really like to call a few of my spirits to help me get home. And it would probably be good for me to grab a change of clothes,too. I would really appreciate it, thanks!" the blonde mage asked, her tone sweet as pie, giving the nurse a wink. Bethany just smiled and nodded as she backed out of the room and closed the door. _Poor dear,_ she thought. _So confused and mixed up._

The soft spoken nurse made her way back to the nurses station and picked up the phone receiver and made a call to another department. It was clear that this case was out of their hands and required _special attention_. That was when she dialed _#77924 PSYCH_.

A short while later, Lucy was sitting on the bed, dressed in some sweats and tshirt that the nurse had provided her and a doctor with clipboard had come to talk to her. The doctor had a very, very long list of questions, most of which made absolutely no sense to Lucy and she wondered why he would even begin to ask her some incredulous, ridiculous things.

"What do you mean 'Do I believe in magic?' Of course I believe in magic! And of course I believe I have magical powers ! I'm a freakin' wizard for cripes sakes! What is going on with you people? You feelin' okay? Jeez." Lucy exclaimed, exasperated, hands on her head.

These people were really weird. Granted she didn't sense of a bit of magical energy coming from this place, but they even question people about BELIEVING in magic? And asking a WIZARD if they BELIEVE IN MAGIC?! What kind of crazy nonsense is that?! Lucy was quickly becoming convinced that the people in this hospital were all off their rocker and must be under some kind of weird spell. _Looks like another one for Fairy Tail to solve once I get out of this crazy place_. _They might be nutzo, but I couldn't just let them keep going on like this_. That was Lucy for you, even feeling sorry for the people who were keeping her hostage at the moment.

After question upon question, the young wizard grew weary and was growing equally impatient. Not only had they asked her ridiculously questions about magic, but they had also asked her if she had considered harming herself or others. And they asked if she had considered taking her own life. Some of their questions were rather dark and ominous. Lucy had to admit that there had been times in her life that she had felt pretty down and out, bleak to the point of feeling empty and alone, that maybe she might be better off just ending it. But that was a long time ago, before she found her family at Fairy Tail. Before she learned that she was never really alone. And that's why these questions bothered her so much. Why would they even ask her these sort of questions?

Then the man called Dr. Huston stood up, adjusting his glasses. "Well Miss Heartfilia that will be all for tonight. I'll be meeting with you again in the morning when I make my next rounds. We'll be transferring you to another unit after a couple of days, but your admitting doctor wants to keep an eye on your head injury and broken ribs for a few days before we do that. Until then, do your best to get some rest," he said, all rather quickly, turning to leave the room.

"But I don't understand… why are you keeping me here? How did I even get here…?" Lucy stammered, still thoroughly confused and feeling a little defeated. She still didn't have any answers, and they had yet to return her keys or any of her belongings to her. Was she even in Fiore anymore? What was going on?

Bethany brought her some pain medication for her headache and a glass of water, and then Lucy did her best to get comfortable in the bed. All she wanted to do was leave this place. She half wanted to up and revolt and just bust on out, but if they had her keys, she had to try to get them back. There was no way she was leaving without them. There was SOME reason that they weren't telling her everything and kept trying to placate her.

"I don't know what these people are up to, but they're not going to fool me," Lucy murmured to herself as she nestled under the thin blankets. "And they better watch out when my friends come looking for me." She soon drifted off into a troubled, restless sleep filled with dreams of her home, her friends, and the long cold, dark corridors of this strange place.

"Natsu!" she cried out, waking up in a cold sweat, chest heaving as she panted for breath. Natsu had just been about to bust through the window to save her. She knew he would come! He always came for her… but then she realized it was a just a dream. She was still in the bed at the strange hospital. But it seemed a lot brighter with the morning sun peeking through the blinds.

She heard the door creak open and glanced over to see who had entered. Another nurse, but this time a younger, but with an equally friendly face. This nurse looked to be closer to Lucy's own age. She was wearing a brightly colored uniform, teal with pink trim, and butterflies on her top. It made Lucy smile a little.

"You okay there, Lucy? I heard you calling out," she asked softly as she approached. "Dreaming about that Natsu again, huh?" Lucy managed to nod, and found herself groping around for the pitcher of water Bethany had left her the night before. Her throat was dry and she was badly in need of a drink. The new nurse opened the blinds a bit and let some sunlight in. Lucy squinted a bit at the brightness.

"My name Tisha, and I'll be here all day today. So anything you need, you just let me know. You don't know it, but you and I are old pals already," she said warmly with a little bit of a laugh.

Lucy looked at her, puzzled, watching her as she moved things from the bedside tray and slid over a metal cart with a covered tray. "I've been your day nurse since they brought you in two weeks ago, while you were unconscious," Tisha explained as she set the covered plate onto the bedside tray and slid it in front of Lucy, pulling the lid off to expose a less than savory breakfast of limp bacon, rubbery eggs and barely toasted wheat toast. Lucy scowled a little, but shrugged. Her stomach was growling and she couldn't be too picky. _At least it's not flying fish_. She thought to herself.

The breakfast wasn't half bad as it looked and she managed to get it down quite easily, feeling a big better after she had some food in her stomach. It was then that she took the opportunity to ask Tisha a few questions.

"So you've been my nurse since I got here… how did I end up here?" Lucy asked her.

"Well from what I understand someone found you in secluded area of the big park in the center of town. It was like you had fallen for a great height or something. You had a concussion and some broken ribs. Other than that you seemed physically find, but you remained unconscious for several days. But when they found you, you were muttering something about your keys and your spirits or something. And about how they tried to steal all your magic." Tisha explained.

Lucy's brow furrowed. Had someone attacked her and tried to take her keys? Who was behind this? How could she have fallen?

"Who was 'they' ?" she asked, studying Tisha for her response, but the nurse simply shrugged.

"No clue. That was just what you said to the EMTs. And I heard it from Caroline down in Triage. She's the one that briefed me on your case," the young nurse continued to explain. Lucy watched her speak, her large brown eyes clear and shining, her face showing no signs of tenseness or suspicious behavior. It was evident that she was a telling the truth. The nurse noticed the dejected looked on the young woman's face and felt bad. She tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you more, but I'm sure we'll find out more for you soon!" she said cheerfully

Lucy forced a smile, knowing the nurse was only trying to help.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm sure. I just don't know how on Earthland I got myself in this mess," she said with a sigh, feeling slightly defeated.

Suddenly the nurse let out a muffled laugh.

Lucy looked at her, alarmed. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You just caught me off guard, I didn't mean to laugh. I've just never heard anyone say it that way before," Tisha said quickly, apologizing for her sudden outburst.

Lucy eyed her suspiciously. "Say what like what?"

"' 'Earthland'? I've never heard that one before, just sounded a bit odd is all," she continued.

Lucy cocked one eyebrow up, and crossed her arms over her chest. Now this was getting a little ridiculous. Was this girl making fun of her?

"What's so weird about it? It's the name of our planet, isn't it?" she replied cooly.

Tisha grimaced, wiping any trace of laughter from her face. Instead she smiled gently, and her tone was just as gentle. "I'm really sorry, Lucy. It's just.. I've only ever heard anyone call it Earth. Not Earthland," she explained.

Lucy stared at her, speechless. This was the moment Lucy realized that not only was she not in Fiore anymore…. She wasn't even in Earthland. She was in another world entirely. Suddenly things were starting to make a little more sense. But that didn't help the fact that she was now seemingly stuck here with no access to her magic and surrounded by people who seemed to think she was crazy. And she had no idea how to get back.

 _ **Lucy isn't in Earthland?! Whaaaat? She's in ...OUR WORLD?! How is she going to get out of this one? Especially when everyone seems to think she's totally nuts. Can Lucy handle this one all on her own?**_

 _ **Please read and review! All constructive comments welcomed. This is my first fanfiction in YEARS, so I might be a little rusty. :)**_


	2. Stuck

Intro: _**Lucy finds herself stuck in a mental institution surrounded by people who don't believe her. Who is this odd psychiatrist that they have her talking to? What do these dreams about Natsu and the others mean? Meanwhile, we get a glimpse of what's going on with Natsu and the other's back in Earthland.**_

 **Disclaimer:** _**I don't own Fairy Tail.**_

 **Stuck**

After a couple of days, Lucy was transferred to another facility entirely, in another section of the large hospital. She saw the words 'Psychiatric Unit" labeled across the large doors as they wheeled her in on a wheel chair. _Great,_ she thought, _they really do think I'm nuts._

They put her into a room with another girl that was relatively close to her age. Lucy tried being friendly and saying hello, but the girl seemed to prefer to keep to herself. Sighing to herself, she sat in a chair and stared out the window. She was due to talk to a psychiatrist in a little while. She had already spoken to several people over the course of the last few days. She spoke to the local police force and gave her all the personal information she could. No one had ever heard of Earthland or Magnolia or Fiore. She knew they pretty much thought she was making everything up. And the fact that she had been openly saying that she was a wizard and had magical powers didn't help. It was clear that magic didn't exist here. Or if it did, it was extremely rare. People didn't seem to believe in magic or wizards, much less fairies. She decided she would try to calmly and rationally explain to the psychiatrist that she was perfectly sane, and that she was simply trapped here.

Time passed quickly as she planned out what she was going to say because before long an attendant came to retrieve her from the room and guided her to the counseling office. The room was wide and open with a bunch of squashy bean bag chairs and cushions on the floor and neutral tones of beige and sage on the walls. Relaxing music played in the background while some candles burned along with some kind of incense. It was a very inviting atmosphere. Taking a deep breath, Lucy hoped for the best. The psychiatrist was female, and unlike Dr. Huston, did not give off a cold, unfriendly demeanor. On the contrary, she seemed rather relaxed and easy to talk to. She had long flowing dark brown dresses that she wore tied back with a deep purple scarf. Her olive colored skin was set off nicely by the layers of brightly colored skirts and her bohemian style peasant top. She wore layers of spangly jewelry and a light sweet perfume that was something like the incense that was burning.

"Hello Lucy, I am Dr. Luminaria. We'll be having a little chat today. Please have a seat, won't you?" she said, giving Lucy a shining smile. For the first time in several days, Lucy felt more at ease. There was something about this woman that seemed more inviting, more comfortable…. More like… home. She settled down onto one of the floor cushions, and surprisingly, the doctor did the same, sitting across from Lucy. "So my dear, please tell me what you would like to talk about."

And with that Lucy spun off into explaining everything in great detail. How she had been on her way to meet Natsu and Happy back in Earthland, and then suddenly woken up in the hospital bed. She explained what she had been told by the nurses, and explained the misunderstanding with the doctors and other staff. She tried to explain how she didn't even belong in this world and that's why none of what she said made sense to any of them. That where she was from, Earthland, magic was an everyday part of life and so were wizards, and wizards guilds. She showed the doctor the pink Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her hand. Lucy did the best she could to convince the doctor that she wasn't making any of it up and that she wasn't some crazy deluded girl. She was just a displaced Earthland wizard who desperately wanted to get home.

"I know it all sounds totally NUTS, but I'm telling you the truth. You've got to believe me, Dr. Luminaria. Please, I'm begging you." Lucy said, pleading with the doctor, her eyes brimming with tears.

"There there my dear, everything will be all right, have some tea," she said, patting Lucy's hand and offering her a hot cup of the sweet smelling brew. Now with silent tears running down her cheeks, Lucy accepted a cup and sipped it in silence. It was a long while before anyone said anything and it was the doctor who spoke.

"You speak with great conviction, Miss Lucy. One could say you really believe you are telling the truth," Dr. Luminaria said, giving her a little wink. Lucy furrowed her brow again, looking questioningly at the doctor.

"What do you mean? Of course I do… Because it's the truth…" Lucy said slowly, looking at the doctor skeptically. The doctor smiled again and nodded.

"So they tell me you have dreams, tell me about those," Dr. Luminaria went on to say. The blonde mage stopped and looked at her quizzically. She couldn't tell whether or not the doctor believed her. It was hard to tell. In some way, it felt like maybe she did believe her…

Lucy went on to tell her about the dreams she had of her friends back in Earthland. Of Natsu and Happy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and the others. She had recurring dreams of Natsu calling out her name, searching for her. She would call back to him and he couldn't hear her. She could hear him but she couldn't see him. And sometimes she would see him on the other side of the glass, and it was like he could see her, but they couldn't break through. "I'M COMING FOR YOU LUCY. I PROMISE I'LL FIND YOU DAMMIT! HANG ON OKAY! I PROMISE I'LL FIND YOU!" he would scream over and over.

"NATSU!" she would scream out over and over, pounding on the glass, crying. He was so close, yet so far away. She would wake up in cold sweats, calling out his name. These dreams always felt so real. Like she could almost touch him, feel him…. But the stupid glass was in the way…

After talking about her dreams, Lucy found herself in tears again, and the doctor offered her another cup of the sweet, warm tea. She accepted another cup, and sniffled a little, blowing her nose. Before long their session was up, and Dr. Luminaria gave her the assignment to write down all of her dreams in great detail. She told her to 'not leave out a single one'. And to re-read it every day when she woke up. Uncertain as to why this mattered, Lucy simply shrugged and agreed. Maybe if she went along with this it would help her get out of this place sooner.

The rest of the day followed with a variety of activities like group therapy, arts and crafts, mealtimes, visitation hours. Being that she didn't really know anyone, Lucy kept to herself, just watching others around her as they went through the motions. For the most part the day passed quickly, and she was able to get back to the comfort of her quiet room. She had come across the small library downstairs and brought a couple books up with her to pass the time. As she settled down to read one, her roommate spoke to her for the first time.

"So you think you're a wizard from another world, huh? You're even crazier than I am," she said, her voice throaty, cracking as she spoke. "So Hocus Pocus, you gonna wave your magic wand and bust us out of here or what?" The girl's heavily lidded eyes were caked with messy black liner and slanted harshly and her small mouth twisted meanly as she sneered at Lucy. Then she started to cackle maniacally at her own joke, turning away from the poor blonde mage, leaving her stunned and at a loss for words. Wow, people here really had backwards views when it came to magic didn't they?

Lucy tried to read for awhile, but found herself unable to concentrate. Sighing, she gave up and excused herself to the small half bathroom connected to their room, put on the hospital issue pajamas she had been provided, and washed her face. She looked in the mirror for a long time, sighing to herself again. "I've gotta get home" she murmured to herself, "But first I need to find my keys and get out of here…"

After turning out her bedside light, she laid in the stiff twin sized bed and stared at the blank wall, watching the shadows move at headlights from passing cars below streamed over the white walls through the curtained window. She thought of her session with Dr. Luminaria, and of home, her friends back at the guild… of her own bed...of Natsu.. Before long she drifted off to sleep, and once more found herself caught in a web of restless dreams.

 _ **Meanwhile in Earthland…**_

"LUCY I'M COMING!" Natsu screaming, bolting upright in his sleep, sweat pouring down over his entire body. He was having that dream again. The one where Lucy was just on the other side of the stupid glass wall that he couldn't break down. Nothing he did would break the goddam thing. No Fire Dragon Roar or Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame. Nothing. Every goddamn night he pounded at that stupid wall and he couldn't get to her. Everyone kept saying that it was just a dream, but he knew there was something more to it. If he could just break that stupid wall, he knew he could find her. But of course no one was listening to him, as per usual. They all thought he was just grieving the loss of Lucy. But he refused to accept that she was really gone.

"Dammit! I couldn't break that goddam wall again!" he cursed, throwing off his blankets and getting up out of his hammock. Happy stirred and sat up.

"Are you okay, Natsu? Were you dreaming about Lucy again?" he asked, the blue Exceed's voice filled with had been going on every night for more than three weeks, ever since Lucy had disappeared. The dragon slayer woke up every night in a cold sweat, screaming out her name.

Everyone knew he would take her disappearance hard, but no one knew just how hard. In fact, he was taking it so hard that he REFUSED to believe that she was actually gone. He knew she was out there somewhere, even though no trace of her could be found on Earthland. But he had seen her in his dreams. They weren't just dreams. He was seeing LUCY. Wherever she was, she was trapped and he needed to save her. It didn't matter what anyone told him.. There HAD to be a way. He refused to accept otherwise.

Happy yawned a little and rubbed his eyes, turning to watch Natsu pace. He moaned worriedly, not sure what to do for his very best friend. He really wanted to believe that Lucy was alive and out there somewhere. He really really missed her and wanted her to be okay. She was one of his best friends too And even if she was, he had no better of a clue how to help her. Then suddenly Natsu threw on his vest and headed for the door.

"Hey, where ya goin?" Happy asked, alarmed at his sudden exit,

"Out for awhile. I need some fresh air and time to think" Natsu countered gruffly.

Happy frowned, his bottom lip quivering a little as his ears lowered.

"Hey Natsu…" he said tentatively, "Are you gonna be okay? I'm scared.."

The salmon haired dragon slayer softened immediately at the sight of his closest friend. It was obvious that Happy was really worried about him, and he really couldn't blame him. Natsu hadn't been himself since Lucy had disappeared.

"Yeah… I will be. Promise. Okay little buddy?" he said, his tone warmer and softer than before.

Happy nodded, sniffling a little and wiping his eyes. He knew where Natsu was going. Whenever he needed 'time to think;' it meant that he was going to Lucy's.

He sat on the floor of her apartment, his back against the side of her bed. Everything smelled like her. It was like she had just been here. Every scent she had. Her morning smell, the smell of her shampoo and perfumes. Her warm Luce smell. He could smell them all at once. God he missed her. He had to figure out how to get to her. Where the hell was she? Who could help him figure out what to do? The most he knew was that the closest he got to her was in his dreams, but that was it. Was she dreaming when he dreamt? Who knew anything about dreams?

He had no idea who to talk to because no one at the guild believed him. They all thought he was just grieving. It had become no secret how he and the celestial wizard felt about one another. It was common knowledge that they had grown closer over the years. So they all assumed. He was just brokenhearted and grieving. No way anything he was saying was true.

That's how most of the guild saw it. They didn't say it outright, but they thought it. He knew. And it wasn't that they didn't care. They hated to see him suffer. But search parties had been sent out, rewards had been offered. No one had seen hide nor hare of Lucy. There was no trace of her. Not even a magical location spell could be done on her with special magic. It was just as if she no longer existed. No trace.. Nothing. But that didn't matter to him. There was something telling him otherwise. These dreams meant something. But he just didn't know what.

A couple of hours later, he had left Lucy's and was heading toward the guild hall when he ran into Lisanna on the road. As usual she greeted him with her pretty smile on her cute, round face. He really didn't feel like talking, but it was hard to refuse one of his oldest friends.

"Hey Natsu! Wait up!" she called to him, and he slowed his pace to allow her to catch up with him. When she finally did, she was panting a little. " I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Maybe later Lisanna? I'm not really in the mood to- " he started, but she cut him off.

"It's about Lucy."

He stopped and looked at her. Now she definitely had his attention.

They sat down and talked for awhile and she told him that Happy had come to her out of concern for him, and told her about Natsu's nightmares. The feline had described them to her in detail and it had made her think.

"When I was in Edolas, there were times I had dreams about Mira and she would dream about me, but we would be on opposite sides of a mirror. She was always crying and I was always telling her that I was right there and that everything was okay. I never realized that those dreams could be like the ones you're having about Lucy… What if Lucy just got pulled into some other world, like I did? Maybe there's somewhere we don't know about. And maybe these dreams are a connection you two are having. What if you could communicate through them?" She looked at him, her eyes wide. Natsu stared back at her in amazement.

Amazed she believed him. Amazed that she might be right. Amazed that there was a chance there might be a way he could talk to Lucy. But what would he need to do to even do this? His mind began racing so fast that it made his head hurt. "Gah!I Can't think!" he cried out in frustration.

Lisanna smiled gently, knowing his tendency to get flustered. She also knew how he felt about Lucy and what was at stake here. She just wanted to do her best to help him and make sure that he was happy. And if there was a chance to get Lucy back, she wanted to do everything she could to help. Any member of Fairy Tail was a member of their collective family, and it was up to them to help out a family member in need.

"Listen, Natsu, I think we need to go talk to Porlyusica. She might be the only one that has any clue what to do about this whole dream communication thing. So the sooner we do that, the sooner we can get you to Lucy."

Natsu nodded, "Right. Let's get Happy first and head out to her place."

So they met up with Happy at the guildhall and began the trek out to Porlyusica's rural residence to see what they could do about finding Lucy.

 _ **Will Porlyusica be able to help them find a way to talk to Lucy? Will they ever find a way to get Lucy home? Who is this strange doctor and why does she seem so different than others in this world?**_

 _ **Note: I'll try to do semi-frequent updates until the story gets rolling. Hope anyone who's reading enjoys the story!**_


	3. Missing Keys

**Intro** : _**Lucy has no clue where her keys are and she's getting pretty worried. She needs them back so she can ditch this place. But wait.. how did Lucy's keys end up in this man's shop? And why is this girl so determined to get her hands on them?!**_

 **Disclaimer:** _ **I don't own Fairy Tail.**_

 _ **Missing Keys**_

While Lucy found herself stuck in this place, she kept mentally devising ways to obtain her missing keys so that she could finally make a break for it. So far, no one had given any indication that they knew where the keys were, but for all she knew they could all be very talented actors that were all part of some grand scheme. While that seemed a little far fetched at this point, the celestial wizard really didn't know what to think anymore. All she knew was that she was worried about her spirits and scared that her keys could fall into the wrong hands. The thing was, no one here would have any idea what they were dealing with if they tried to use her keys… Someone could end up seriously hurt. It was already pretty obvious that magic was something these people knew nothing about. The sooner she found them, the better off for everyone.

Little did she know that her keys were not in the hospital at all, but laying in a glass case in a little junk shop across town. And someone with a keen eye was about to take a very pronounced interest in them. A cloaked young woman caught then glinting even in this dull light, shinning like a diamond amongst the pile of coals… She sucked in her breath and bit her lip, frozen in her tracks as she stared down at the set of keys displayed so haphazardly in the old glass case. The item not only to valuable, but very very rare… and it seems the grizzly old owner didn't really know what he had on his hands.

A price tag of $50 graced the outside of the key fold, a hefty sum for a dingy old shop like this. She knew the old man probably had come across them while using his metal detector in the park or on the beach somewhere. That's how he found a lot of his jewelry and things like that. Not wanting to raise suspicions, she gingerly asked shop owner to see the 'chintzy looking keys' in the case. The old man grumbled that she 'better not be up to any funny business' and begrudgingly opened the case and handed her the set of keys. Her eyes shined with excitement as she gently fingered the ornate tops of the gold and silver keys. She scowled and looked at the old man.

"I'll give you 20 bucks," she said, sounding bored with them already, setting them on the counter. The old man guffawed and harrumphed.

"Like hell you will! Tag says 50, that's what I'm askin'" he grumbled back in gravelly tones. "Don't play games with me, kid."

"Look old man, I'm not playing games, but I don't want to be ripped off either. How about 25?" she asked again. She was greeted with an angry noise from behind the counter.

"I don't have time for this nonsense! If you're going to play games, get out of my shop right now!" the old man bellowed. She bit her lip again and looked at the keys. Her mouth always got her into trouble. And it was about to get her thrown out of this shop again. But she needed to get a hold of those keys… the magic emanating off them was off the charts.

"Okay okay, FINE! All I got on me is 35 bucks! It's the rest of my cash for the month!" she gave in, sounding exasperated.

The old man considered a moment and then finally replied with a contemptuous grunt. "Fine, alright then. They're yours. But don't come around here bugging me for the rest of the month then!"

Once she had the keys in hand and she was out of the shop, the young woman grinned to herself. She had just hit the motherload and there was no way of stopping her now.

 _ **Back in Earthland…**_

When they reached Porlyusica's house, they weren't met with a warm greeting and open arms. Quite the opposite, really. It was a known fact that the old healer was not fond of people. And she was even less fond of them coming to her house and knocking on her door. She made very few exceptions to this general distaste for humankind, and preferred to just live a quiet life, keeping to herself. However, whenever someone from Fairy Tail was truly in need, she would always help, no matter how sourly she behaved.

"What do you want? Why are you bothering me?" she bellowed out at them after Natsu had knocked on her door. All three of them winced at her amazingly loud voice and plugged their ears.

"This lady is scary!" yelped Happy

"Please, Ms. Porlyusica, we need your help!" Lisanna pleaded. "It's concerning our missing guildmate, Lucy!"

"I already told you! I cannot locate her anywhere in Earthland. There is no trace of her. She simply has vanished you must accept that she is gone! There is nothing you can do! Now go away!" she yelled at them, starting to pull her doors closed.

"Just a minute you old witch! You're gonna listen to us!" Natsu roared, grabbing for the frame of her door. The old healer swung her broom at him and furrowed her brow deeper.

"You're wasting my time and your own, boy. I understand you have a broken heart, but you must move on. I'm sorry. Now please, go," she said, her tone softened slightly.

Before Natsu could lose his temper again, Lisanna spoke up and pleaded with the old woman once more, Happy shielding himself behind her leg. "Please, Ms. Porlyusica, we think Lucy might have been transported to another world, the way I was transported to Edolas. And Natsu has been dreaming of her every night she's been gone! He says that every time he dreams about her it feels like she's really there, like she's so close he can smell her scent. So I was thinking you might know something about a way they could communicate through these dreams!" The young take-over mage's chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath after rattling off the long winded explanation as quickly as she could. When she looked up, Porlyusica was staring at her, and then glancing at Natsu, then back to Lisanna. After a few minutes, she turned back to Natsu.

"How long have you been having these dreams?" she asked him, her brow furrowed and mouth set in a hard line. He shrugged, massaging the back of his head as he thought.

"Well it's been since Lucy's disappeared, right?" Lisanna asked him, glancing between Natsu and Porlyusica.

The dragonslayer nodded. "Yeah, yeah they started the night of the day she disappeared and happened every night since."

"Yeah he always wakes up yellin out Lucy's name and stuff! Like every night! And cold sweats and all sorts of weird breathin! Sometimes I think he's havin a heart attack or something!" Happy chimed in.

Porlyusica was quiet for a few moments, as in contemplating all they had just shared with her. After what felt like an eternity she beckoned them to come inside.

"Come with me. I may have something that can help you," she said gruffly, entering her home and urging them to follow. Natsu and Lisanna looked at each other excitedly and scrambled to follow her into the house, closing the doors behind them.

She worked in silence for a long while, mixing different liquids, adding powders here and there. It seemed that she was concocting some kind of potion. Neither of them was really sure what it was for, but they knew better than to question the healer. She was a powerful wizard with a very short fuse. After some time, she produced a small vial of blue colored liquid and handed it to Natsu.

"Now ingest this on its own directly before going to sleep and it will assist you in having a lucid dream state. While in this lucid dream state you will have direct control of your dreams and this should allow you to make contact with your friend," Porlyusica directed, her expression grave. "But be warned not to spend too much time in this state or you could become stuck in your dream state. It it advised to have someone present while you take the position so that you might be roused from your state of slumber within one hour of taking the potion. Do you understand?"

Natsu was staring at the vial in his hands, nodding dumbly, catching only parts of what she said. All he knew was that this stuff was going to let him talk to Lucy and that was all he really cared about. Lucky for him, Lisanna was paying attention and took in every detail of the healer's very specific instructions. Once she was sure they understood, Porlyusica ushered them out of the house, closing the door on Lisanna's thank yous. Natsu was still staring at the vial.

"We should go back to the guild hall and tell the-" Lisanna started, turning in that direction but she was quickly cut off,.

"I wanna do it now," Natsu said loudly.

Lisanna raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Do what now?" Then she noticed he was holding up the vial and staring at it again. She softened and smiled a little, putting a hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"We have to wait until later Natsu… Right now, let's go find Gray and Erza and tell them what's going on. And maybe we should let the Master know too. Who knows, maybe they could help," she said, patting his arm gently.

"Yeah Natsu, we should wait until bed time like Porlyusica said, remember? Let's go to the guild and get some grub. I'm starved!" Happy said, rubbing his noisy stomach.

The dragon slayer continued to stare hard at the vial, feet rooted on the spot he was standing, brow furrowed deeply. "I wanna talk to Lucy," he said,almost growling. "I wanna tell her it's gonna be okay and that I'm coming for her."

Lisanna sighed a little. She wasn't surprised that he was being impatient and albeit a little irrational. She understood that he had been pretty broken up over all of this and he just wanted to move forward in saving Lucy as quickly as possible. After all, Lucy was pretty special to him, she could see that. She stood in front of him, trying to catch his gaze.

"Natsu, we have to wait because Lucy would have to be sleeping, too, remember? So that's why we have to wait until when you usually go to sleep at night. If we do it at a different time, there's a chance you won't catch her, and you won't be able to talk to her at all," Lisanna explained, trying to talk some sense into him. This snapped him out of his daze in a second.

"Whoa, I didn't even think of that… you're right, Lisanna. Thanks," he said, surprised. He took the blue vial and carefully stowed it away in his pocket for safekeeping. "Okay, so later it is then."

Lisanna heaved a sigh of relief and nodded, giving him a warm smile. "Now how about we head back to the guild hall to find Erza and Gray?" Natsu just nodded and turned toward the guild hall.

"And to get some food!" Happy said, hopefully and this time both Natsu and Lisanna laughed a little.

"Yeah buddy, don't worry, we'll get ya some fish," Nasty said with a chuckle as the three of them headed back through the woods.

Once they reached the guild hall, they sought out Erza and Gray and retreated to a quiet corner to explain what was going on. At first the two seemed skeptical, but when Lisanna explained her thoughts on it, and told them what Porlyusica said, they seemed far more convinced.

"So you really think it's possible that Lucy is trapped in some other world?" Erza repeated in hushed tones, her hand stroking her chin as it always did when she was deep in thought. "If that is true, then we must find out how to get to her a retrieve her from wherever she is trapped. She could be in danger."

Gray nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we've got no clue what could be out there, and poor Lucy's probably got no access to her magic so no telling what she's up against. I'm surprised she's survived this long if she's hurt or-"

The ice wizard was suddenly interrupted by a fiery fist to his face. "What the hell was that for flame brains?!"

"Don't talk about Lucy like that ice prick! She's tough! She can survive anything!" Natsu bellowed, now both fist flaming and raised to fight. Gray gritted his teeth and raised his clenched fists, encased in sharp shards of ice..

"I was just saying that it must be tough for her is all, but you gotta go and open your big fat flaming mouth!" Gray shouted, taking a swing at the dragonslayer.

And before the fight could progress any further it was quickly thwarted and quelled upon the word Erza, who had both wizards sitting quietly and apologizing within moments, complete with a fresh set of knocks and bumps atop their heads.

"Now that that nonsense is over we can deal with the task at hand. Tonight we shall all go to Natsu's house and be present when he takes the potion. After that, we will figure out what our next move is to get Lucy back," Erza stated diplomatically, requipping back into her standard armor.

The cloaked young woman moved throughout the city with great stealth, careful to avoid onlookers and passersby. She couldn't afford for anyone to catch wind of her new treasure. It was far too valuable to her. _These are going to make all the difference,_ she thought to herself. _This is the break I've been waiting for._ She laughed and smiled to herself, unable to believe her huge stroke of luck. After a short journey she arrived at her destination. It was an older, bright blue Victorian style house that was closer to the older part of town, more to the outskirts. The outside was a bit dilapidated, but the grounds were well loved and cared for. She took off the hood of her cloak and muttered something at the gate to let herself in. Once inside she made her way up the steps and into house itself.

"Welcome home Laeri" a disembodied voice chimed out in very sing song like manner. The young woman made her way into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. There were a number of strange things to be found inside, but quite used to them all, she ignored everything but the apple she had her eye on. She perched herself up on the counter, pushing her dark bangs out of her light colored eyes and began to bite into the apple she had just retrieved. When you got a good look at her, she didn't look so conniving or sinister as one might think she is when she had that dark cloak drawn over her. When you could properly see her face, it was clear as day that she was no more than 14 or 15 years old, and as fresh faced as the apple she was currently munching on.

Just then someone else entered the kitchen. Another young woman who looked to be an older version of Laeri, but she bore a much more serious expression. She looked at the girl sitting on the counter and frowned a bit.

"Where have you been all day?" she inquired suspiciously of the younger girl. "You know you had chores and lessons to get to today."

The younger girl flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and took a pronounced bite out of her apple. "I was treasure hunting, thank you very much. A WAY more interesting thing to do than lessons and chores." She slid off the counter and looked at her older sister and the pile of books she was carrying.

"How can you STAND it?! Don't you get tired of studying all the time? Ugh!" Laeri cried out in frustration.

The older girl blinked several times, staring at her intently, her grey colored eyes fixed and concentrated. "You will never master your craft if all you do is going around looking for trinkets," said the older sister firmly, setting down the pile of books on a nearby counter.

"Yeah, well I happen to LIKE trinkets, so I'll keep on hunting them! Now please _excuse me_ I have something to do!" Laeri said, pushing past her older sister in an attempt to head for the stairs that led to the second floor and more directly her bedroom, but just as she was passing her, Laeri's worst fear came to pass.

"HOLD IT. Whatever you are hiding, Hand it over, NOW," the elder sister said both loudly and firmly. Laeri winced and then began to whine immediately.

"Lux, you can't take it, I found them fair and square! I can tell they're super powerful and I can tell them for a TON at the open market and be set for LIFE! Don't take this from me! PLEASE LUX!" she begged and pleaded with sister, but Lux's hand remained opened and outstretched.

Sighing, disheartened and disappointed, Laeri reluctantly handed over the keys. Lux took them and examined them closely, not speaking for several moments. She even took the keys and started upstairs with them, heading toward the library. Laeri followed after her, begging for the keys back, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Lux had retrieved a book and seemed to be leafing through it. After awhile she stopped on a particular page and looked at the keys and then the page again.

"Just as I thought," she said aloud. "These are summoning keys… they would be used by a celestial wizard...but from Earthland. And it seems there are ten of the twelve zodiac keys that belong to this single wizard. Even by Earthland standards that's really really rare… Whomever they are, they must be powerful and important. But the real question is… how did they end up here? And where is the wizard they belong to?"

 _ **Who are these mystery people that now have Lucy's keys in their possession. They seem to be using magic..are they wizards?! And how does one know so much about Earthland? And Natsu will have a way to talk to Lucy! Let's hope he can make contact during his dreams and they can find a way out of this mess!**_

 _ **Note: Thanks for the follows! Glad you still want to read. Constructive reviews would be appreciated. Thanks everyone! : D**_


	4. Getting Some Answers

Intro: _**Mysterious magic users have got their hands on Lucy's keys and seem to be knowledgable of Earthland. Who are they and what are they up to? And Lucy had another session with the strange doctor. Will this lead to something or just another goose chase? Will Natsu get a chance to talk to Lucy in their dreams? Can they make that important connection?**_

 **Disclaimer:** _ **I don't own Fairytail.**_

 _Author note: Thank you for all the follows and reviews! I appreciate the reads! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story! 3_

 _ **Getting Some Answers**_

Since her last session with the psychiatrist, Lucy had done as Dr. Luminaria requested and wrote down all of her dreams in great detail. The doctor had told her to remember them, and had repeated this time and time again at the end of their last session. It was almost painful to do so because every time she went to sleep she dreamt of home and Natsu. It wasn't painful to dream of these things, but rather to be separated from them was the difficult part. And it was torture seeing Natsu so close, being able to FEEL him- and not being able to connect with him. All she could do was cry out to him over and over again. She couldn't help but wonder if he was having any sort of similar experience that she was.. If he missed her as much as she apparently missed him. The truth was she missed EVERYONE. By this time she had been gone for a few weeks, and for all they knew, she was gone for good. Had everyone moved on already?

These doubts began to invade her mind over and over again when she was alone. It became especially pronounced when it was visiting hours and she saw others have loved ones come to see them. She was always alone, sans her roommate, who was not only unfriendly, but seemed to get some sick, twisted enjoyment out of Lucy's unhappiness. So the blonde mage did whatever she could to avoid the girl at all costs. And group therapy was no better. Over and over again she was chided. People telling her that she was making it all up, that she wasn't really a wizard from another world. Some people seemed to feel sorry for her and think she was just some deluded crazy girl. And others thought she was some pathological liar that was seeking attention. No matter how it was looked at - she was just a sad head case to them. And while Lucy was resilient and strong, the daily grind of it was starting to wear away at her bit by bit.

"I'm almost starting to feel like I belong in this goddamn place," she muttered to herself, staring out of the window. "I've really got to get out of here."

She was scheduled for a session with Dr. Luminaria that afternoon, and she was actually kind of looking forward to it. Even though this place was horrible and her top priority was to get the hell out of here, the doctor was a small comfort amongst the hell she was living in. The psychiatrist seemed to function differently than her colleagues and associates. Lucy couldn't really put her finger on it, but she felt calmer and more at home around her. Why, she had no idea. Maybe it was because she was more colorful and lively than the rest of the people around here. And she didn't seem to simply dismiss everything Lucy said. This gave the celestial wizard hope that there might be a chance the doctor could help her out of this mess. She was glad when the time for her to visit the office rolled around again.

"Hello dear, good to see you again," Dr. Luminaria said, greeting her with a warm smile and motioning for her to take a seat. "Lucy, yes? Please make yourself comfortable, dear."

Lucy returned her smile and nodded, settling down onto a nearby cushion, "Good to see you too, Dr. Luminarnia. I kept track of my dreams like you told me to."

The psychiatrist smiled again, nodding as she settled onto a cushion across from Lucy. The blonde mage held out the notebook pages to the doctor and she took them carefully into her hands. Dr. Luminaria looked over them for several moments before looking up at Lucy again, giving her the same warm smile.

"Tell me dear, when you have these dreams, what do you FEEL" she asked Lucy, her expression turned more serious. Lucy was confused. She thought she had conveyed that in the dream notes already.

"Well… like I wrote down, it makes me sad.. They make me miss home, miss my friends. They make me confused, angry.." Lucy felt her temper rising and emotions welling up to the surface as she spoke, her tone growing sharper and her voice getting louder. ".Upset that no one here believes me and everyone just thinks I'm crazy! It makes me-" She started to rant on, but she felt a gentle hand on her arm and was brought back to her senses by a few soft spoken words from the doctor.

"I understand my dear, however, what I mean, what do you physically experience? You said that this man you dream of, Natsu? You said that he breathes fire and often attacks this wall between you. Can you feel anything from this?" Dr. Luminaria asked, looking at Lucy. Lucy stared back at her, mouth slightly agape. Was she hearing this right?

"Um… well, yes I can feel the heat on the glass. I can feel the vibrations from when he strikes the surface. I can almost feel his presence. It's so real it's almost like he's RIGHT THERE, but I can't touch him," Lucy went on to describe, her voice trailing off at the end.

"Aha! Yes! This is good!" Dr. Luminaria said suddenly, getting up from her seat and rushing across the room. Lucy jumped back, surprised by her sudden movements. What in the HELL was going on here?!

The doctor lifted a large satchel onto the desk and proceeded to open it, then rooting around amongst it contents. Lucy watched her, eyes wide, eyebrows arched high. What the heck was this lady up to? Now things were just getting WEIRD. After a few minutes, she surfaced from the bag with a small glass bottle in one hand and what looked to be a wand in the other.

"Here we are!" the doctor exclaimed, holding up the small bottle and showing it to Lucy. Before proceeding any further, she turned toward the doorway, raised her wand, said some sort of incantation out loud and there was a small glint of light that came from the door. Now the celestial wizard was REALLY confused. The brightly clothed doctor turned back to her stunned patient and clapped her hands together. "Now this can really help you!"

Lucy shook her head, trying to make sense of what was happening. "Okay, doctor, I'm sorry, did I miss something? Could you please explain what is going on here?" she asked desperately, thoroughly confused and now very anxious.

The psychiatrist smiled warmly and chuckled lightly. "Ah, Lucy. I'm so sorry for the confusion. I'm just so very glad that I can help you! I will explain.. You see, when two individuals who share are deep emotional connection are separated by outside forces, their souls will a communicational point. This usually occurs during one's dreamstate. While in a lucid dreamstate, one can directly communicate with their partner, but only with the assistance of a special potion," she explained in detail, holding up the small glass bottle, which Lucy now noticed contained a blue colored liquid.

"So you must take this potion within 10 minutes of when you wish to sleep, and fall into a deep slumber. After one hour you must be roused from this slumber. But within that one hour you will be within a lucid dreamstate that will allow you to directly communicate with the other at your communicational point."

She handed Lucy the bottle and the blonde mage stared at it, then looked back at the doctor. Was she serious? Did this mean she could talk to Natsu in her dreams? And then maybe she could tell him where she was when she disappeared! Maybe there was some way he could get to her… Maybe there was some way she could get home. But really the first and foremost thing that was one her mind as the doctor spoke was… that she could talk to Natsu.

After the end of her "session" Lucy returned to her room, where she found out that her lovely roommate had been moved to another room, so that left Lucy alone for the night. Somehow she couldn't help but feel that this was no coincidence. She sat her bed and thought about everything that had just transpired. She had gone from feeling so low and depressed about her situation to now she was anxious and excited, rife with anticipation about the coming night. Sleep couldn't get there fast enough! For the first time in weeks, she was looking forward to going to bed because it meant that she was going to get to talk to Natsu and finally make some headway on getting the hell out of here and going home.

She had also found out that Dr. Luminaria was the equivalent to a wizard in this world, but she was called a sorceress. She specialized in healing and potions, much like Porlyusica back home. But she was also educated in non-magical disciplines. She told Lucy of how there were many others like herself that were working within the different education, medical, and governmental systems throughout the world. There was especially a presence within the mental health system, as most of the non-magic individuals in this world did not believe in magic at all and often those with natural born magical abilities would be filtered through the mental health system. They would be dismissed as being mentally ill for believing in magic or that they themselves had some sort of special powers.

Lucy also learned that magic in this world was not entirely ability based as it was in Earthland. Where you had ability magic, maker magic, holder magic and so on back home, here magic users could use it in a more diversified sense and often used a wand or some other magical object to conduct a concentrated stream of magic through. There were many different types of magical individuals, but the use of magic was much more concealed and secretive from non-magical eyes. This whole concept was so strange to Lucy because back home, magic was just an everyday part of life, even to those who didn't possess magical abilities It was strange to think that there were people that just straight up denied that magic even EXISTED at all.

So it was set that that night, when she went to sleep, Lucy would be taking the potion. And then she would enter a lucid dream state that would allow her to control her dreams and directly communicate with Natsu. She could only hope that he would listen to her and stop yelling long enough to hear what she had to say. It was hard to get him to stop once he got going, that's for sure. Of course she understood why, but this was important. She could usually get through to him, though. Lucy hoped that this would be one of those times. Dr. Luminaria had arranged for someone to come to wake Lucy after the one hour had passed. She told her to take the potion at exactly 10 pm on the dot. She anxiously paced the floor, waiting for the next couple hours to pass.

Lux glanced at the clock. 8:13 p.m. It was still awhile before they had to go. Still, better to be prepared on time than be lagging at the last minute. She gathered a few more things and put them into her bag for the trip to the hospital, including a change of clothes for the celestial wizard. She and Laeri would be traveling to the hospital to be present while the young woman was under the influence of the potion and then would wake her up when one hour passed. After that, they would help her leave the hospital and return her to their home where she would be invited to take refuge until her situation was figured out.

A few days prior, their mother had come home from work talking about about a young woman who seemed to have been accidentally transported to their world, someone from Earthland. She told them how the girl claimed to be a celestial wizard from Magnolia, Fiore, and had been inquiring about the location of her keys. Of course this struck a chord with her daughters, as Lux had just confiscated keys belonging to an Earthland celestial wizard from her sneaky little sister just recently. So that mystery had finally be solved. So the goal now was to allow her time to communicate with her people and then remove her from the hospital all together. By this time, Dr. Luminaria would have been able to take care of all the red tape necessary to get this Lucy out of the hospital with no issues. Once she was sure they had everything they needed, Lux and Laeri headed off from their home and set out toward the hospital on the other side of town.

 _ **Meanwhile back in Earthland...**_

Natsu was pacing back and forth across the floor of his kitchen, nearly having worn a hole in the tiles from pacing so much. Time couldn't go fast enough. Porlyusica had suggested that he wait until an hour that he thought most likely that Lucy would have gone to bed. Depending on the night, she sometimes went to be bed early, sometimes she went to bed really late if she was up working on her novel. But he had a feeling she wasn't staying up too late. It was so hard to know just when would be the right time and he was so anxious it was killing him.

"Aaaaghhhh!" he yelled out in frustration, gripping the sides of his head in his hands. "I can't stand this! Why the hell can't stupid time move faster goddamit!" The dragonslayer was growing especially impatient as the minutes seemingly slowly ticked by.

Lisanna smiled sympathetically. "I know you want it to hurry Natsu, but it will be time before you know it," she said encouragingly. "You'll get to talk to Lucy really soon."

"Yeah cool your jets flame boy, it'll happen soon enough," Gray chimed in, not so sympathetically. "We all want you to talk to Lucy, but freaking out isn't going to make it happen any quicker."

Natsu turned to Gray and snarled. "Why don't you just SHUT UP FROSTY! No one asked you ANYWAY! YOU WANNA GO AT IT?!" The dragonslayer lifted his flame covered fists, momentarily distracted from his timely torment.

"I'm just sayin' maybe if you weren't such an IMMATURE CHILD, this might be a little easier, but maybe I just need to BEAT some sense into you!" the ice wizard yelled back, now putting his fists up to counter the dragonslayer. Erza was about to intervene, but it was Happy that interrupted them.

"C'mon you guys, knock it off!" the blue Exceed cried out, tears welling up in his eyes. "This is really important! We gotta be strong and do this right so we can get Lucy back! And all you guys can do is fight!" They all stopped and stared at him, the room totally quiet.

"Oh Happy…" Lisanna said softly. Both Natsu and Gray lowered their fists, frowning.

"Sorry little buddy, you're right. We should be focusing on Lucy and not fighting," Natsu said, his head lowered.

"Yeah, you're right Happy. Sorry," Gray added sincerely, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, now that that's all settled, we can focus on the task at hand," Erza said in a diplomatic tone, checking the clock. "9:35 pm. And you said that around the ten o'clock hour is when you would want to try Natsu?"

Natsu nodded in response. "Yeah. That's a pretty average bedtime for Lucy. I'm hoping that I'm not wrong and we get lucky that she is asleep at that time. Or at least that she's asleep within that hour time limit."

"We will be here to make sure that you are roused from your dream state exactly one hour after you go to sleep. We will have no idea as to whether or not you have made contact, but that matters not. From what Lisanna has described, it is of utmost importance that we wake you after that one hour time marker. And that is exactly what we will do, " Erza went on, speaking firmly.

Natsu nodded, sighing. "Now all we gotta do is wait a little while longer."

He picked up the vial of blue liquid and stared at it for a long time.

"Just a little longer, Luce, I promise. Just a little longer and I'll come to you," he murmured softly.

And it would be only a matter of minutes until they both slipped into a deep sleep under the influence of a strong potion, unbeknownst to the other, in an effort to make a connection from worlds apart.

So Lux and Laeri are going to help Lucy! And Dr. Luminaria is in on it too! Soon Lucy will get to talk to Natsu and hopefully find a way to get back home! Let's hope nothing happens to interrupt their plans!


	5. Dreams

**Intro:** _**Lucy and Natsu are both going to be taking a special potion in order to communicate with each other in their dreams. But they don't know the other is doing it, too! Will they be successful? Can they come up with a plan that will get Lucy home?**_

 _ **Dreams**_

Lucy looked at the clock again, feeling her heart race. 9:54. Only six more minutes to go. She had to take it at ten o'clock on the dot. She had been pacing the floor back and forth for the better part of an hour. For once in her life, she kind of identified with Natsu a little. He tended to be the impatient one, and she was always telling him to calm down and keep cool about things. But this was something it was really, REALLY hard to keep cool about. She could only imagine how hard it would be to keep him chilled out under these circumstances. Why was it so important that she do it at that specific time?! The doctor must have her reasons… Probably to do with how she was timing everything… Regardless, Lucy was eager for these last minutes to hurry up and tick by! It was all she could do to not scream out of frustration.

She glanced at the clock again. 9:55. Aggrrrhh! Only a minute had passed. She slumped into a chair near the window and huffed loudly. Though it was only a few minutes until she was to take the potion, it felt like an eternity. Nothing could make this happen fast enough for her. Waiting was like not only pulling teeth, but digging them out with a broken spoon. Ugh…. She closed her eyes and put her head back for a few, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling again, trying to focus her thoughts. The young celestial wizard wanted to enter this dream state with a clear mind so that she could control her thoughts and communicate clearly with Natsu. She needed to to make him understand what was happening and where she was stuck. She needed to tell him where she last remembered being in the forest and ending up in this world. They only had an hour, so it was crucial that she got as much information to him as possible. And it was hard to say what it was going to take to communicate with him. Would he even know that she was actually talking to him and it wasn't just a dream? She really really hoped so…

She opened her eyes again and her heart began pounding even harder. Four minutes had passed. 9:59. Just one minute left to go. She got up from the chair and went over to the small bedside table and picked up the bottle. Sitting on the bed, she removed the stopper from the small glass bottle and then watched the clock. The seconds seemed to take an eon to tick by, the silence echoing in her ears as she waited. And then the clock switched to 10:00 p.m. on the dot, and with that Lucy drank down the blue liquid in the bottle. She returned the stopper to the bottle and put it back on the table, then laying down in her bed. Closing her eyes, she could already feel the effects of the potion start to take over as she began to drift into a deep slumber…

 _ **Back in Earthland….**_

The minutes were ticking away, but not fast enough for the dragon slayer. He was doing his best to be patient, but he had all but worn through a rut in the floorboards by now with his pacing. He had been up and down out of his seat, staring at the vial of blue liquid as if it might manifest into Lucy herself. Nothing could calm him down. His friends did their best to try and soothe him, but it was no use. Too much was riding on this for him to even ease off for a second.

"Would you chill out already, man? Pacing like that isn't going to make time go any faster," Gray mumbled, watching Natsu walk the floor for about the thousandth time in 20 minute.

"Gray. have some compassion. This is difficult for Natsu, after all. We are all on edge here," Erza said firmly, looking to Natsu with concern. Lisanna nodded in agreement with Erza, also watching the pink haired dragon slayer as he continued to pace, mumbling incoherently to himself.

"It's gonna be time real soon, Natsu," Happy said reassuringly, sitting on the table, also watching Natsu pace. The feline had very rarely ever seen his best friend so worked up over something, and never so worried. He knew this must be killing the dragon slayer.

And then the clock struck ten, and Natsu whooped loudly.

"Haha! Finally!" he yelled out, laughing a bit as he grabbed the vial and swallowed it down in one quick gulp. "There! Now what?"

They all gaped at him for a moment, uncertain as to what to say, and then Erza sighed, shaking her head a bit. "Well I suppose now you should lay down to sleep. We will rouse you in one hour exactly. Remember, you must keep control of your thoughts while in the dream state. Pay attention to the details and be sure to communicate directly to Lucy. You MUST convey that you are communicating directly and that it is not simply a dream. Try to your best to find out where she is and what has happened. This will be the ONLY way will will have any hope of finding her and getting her back," Erza said to Natsu, reiterating Porlyusica's instructions.

The young dragonslayer nodded firmly, "Got it, Erza. Whatever I need to do to get Lucy back. I just can't wait to see her!" He flung himself into his hammock and laid back, already starting to feel the effects of the potion wash over him. "Man this stuff hits you hard and fast." he laid back, closing his eyes as he began to feel himself drift off, whispering softly to himself. "Lucy…"

 _ **In Lucy's Dreams...**_

Lucy squinted in the darkness, feeling herself floating in a strange mist. _Where am I?_ she thought aloud, the words physically manifesting in front of her like puffs of smoke and then fading away. "I must be asleep," she concluded, out loud. "I wonder why it's so dark."

She continued to float amongst the darkness when suddenly the scene changed and she was back in her apartment, standing by her desk. The most recent pages of her novel were out where she had last left them, right before she went to go meet Natsu and Happy at their fishing spot. She reached for the pages, but before she could make contact, the scene changed and she was in the guild hall. She could see several members going about their daily business. Mira was serving food and drinks at the bar. Cana was wrapped up in a drinking contest with Master Makarov. Wakaba and Macao were rambling on about their age and women. Freed was lamenting to Bixlow about how he wasn't living up to Laxus' expectations… all pretty normal stuff. It made her miss everyone. And then suddenly it changed again. She was back in the hospital. She was standing in front a large mirror and she could see her own reflection. Her face looked pale and thinner than before, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She had lost weight. It was clear to see that she wasn't happy. She touched the reflection of her face and expected the glass to feel cool. But instead the glass felt warm….

Her heart started pounding. Could it be… was he near? She frantically looked at the glass, trying to peer through it, to see if she could see him, but still saw only her own reflection. Placing her palm on the glass, she could feel the warmth.

"Lucy…" came a whisper.

She stopped breathing for just a moment. It was his voice. She could hear him.

"Natsu…. Natsu! I'm here… I'm here, Natsu!" she called out, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, unable to hold back her emotion.

"Lucy…? Is that you…?" said the voice, a bit clearer this time.

"Oh my god…It's him!" she whispered in disbelief, pressing herself to the glass "Where are you? Can you see me?"

Just then, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Natsu's form appeared on the other side of the glass. Lucy gasped and jumped back a little. And then the tears started streaming down her face, pouring out endlessly. He was really there, he could hear her and see her. But was he really there ? Or was this just part of the dream?

"Luce! Holy shit! Yeah I can see you! I'm right here Luce!" Natsu yelled suddenly, pressing himself against the glass. "I took a potion so I could talk to you! I think it's workin!"

Lucy blinked several times through her tears, realizing what Natsu just said. "Wait, what?! You took a potion? So did I!"

Natsu looked confused " You did?! Wait a minute… WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! You've been gone forever!"

"I know, I'm sorry! I'm in some place called Earth. It's almost like Earthland, but different. Magic works different here. The majority of the population doesn't even believe in magic. It's rare here," Lucy explained.

"Don't believe in magic?! What kind of crazy crap is that?! How the hell did you end up there?" Natsu asked urgently.

"I was on my way to meet you and Happy at the fishing spot that day,and I was bringing lunch to surprise you guys and next thing I know, I woke up in some creepy hospital hooked up to all these machines. And then all these people are asking me all these questions and I found out I wasn't even in Earthland anymore! To top it all off, these people all think I'm totally nutzo and are treating me like a crazy person! Except for this one lady, Dr. Luminarnia, she's a sorceress. Kind of equivalent to a wizard in our world. She sort of reminds me of Porlyusica, except not so grumpy. Anyway, she gave me the potion to go into a lucid dream state to talk to you," she went on to explain further, the words pouring out. Natsu listened intently, taking in everything that she said.

"Wow Luce, that's totally crazy! I got the potion from Porlyusica, now that you mention it. I can't believe those people don't believe in magic! And they've got you locked up for believing in it? Why haven't you used your spirits or one of your other spells to get out of that place!?" he asked urgently, completely baffled. He stared at her as she trembled.

"My keys… I-I don't h-have them. I don't know where they are," she stammered, tears streaming from her eyes once again, flowing a bit harder this time. The weight of the situation was being felt more than ever before. She cringed hard as she said the words, feeling like a part of her had been ripped from her body. Her missing keys felt like a missing limb.

Natsu frowned deeply and raised his hand to the glass that was level with her face, as if he was to cup her cheek, as he normally might do. "It's gonna be okay Lucy, we'll find your keys. Your spirits are all gonna be okay. I promise you that," He looked into her eyes with great concern.

She touched the glass as though she were touching his cheek in return, her eyes shinning with tears, a small sad smile on her face and she nodded, "Yeah, you're right Natsu, we will."

 _ **In Natsu's Dream…**_

He looked at her for a moment, his brow furrowed. "Gah! I hate this damn stupid wall!" he growled, cocking his arm back and throwing a flaming fist punch directly at the surface. Lucy flinched and stepped back. Natsu frowned.

"Sorry Luce… I just hate being separated from you like this.. I just want you back," he said hoarsely, resting his forehead against the glass, She responded by resting her forehead parallel to his. He knew that they needed to act fast and figure out how to get her home. They also needed to get Lucy her keys back and pronto. If she had her keys then she could get out of that crazy ass place with that bunch of weirdos who didn't believe in magic! They probably didn't believe in dragons, either.

"Lucy, listen, where EXACTLY were you at the last exact moment you remember? Maybe there's an opening somewhere that I can get through," he said hurriedly,

"I was just a bit past the big oak trees," she said, "right around the corner from the bend in the river." Natsu thought for a moment. He knew where she was talking about. They had searched the area several times but found nothing. But this just meant they had to look again.

"Is there anything else you can tell me Luce? Anything you know about when they found you?" Natsu asked, staring at her hard, taking in every detail of her response.

She thought for a moment. "They said it seemed like I fell from up high. I had a head injury, as well as broken ribs. They couldn't figure out where I could have fallen from. They concluded that I must have tried to climb up in a tree and fallen out. But obviously that's not what happened," Lucy said.

Natsu nodded. "Okay Luce, got it. We'll search the area and see what we can find. There has to be something that we missed. Whatever it is, we'll find it. No way I'm giving up until I find a way to get to you and get you back home where you belong. You got that? I'll never give up on you, okay?" He kept stressing it over and over again. He wasn't going to give up on getting her home. She belonged in Earthland, back in Magnolia. Back in Fairy Tail. Back with him…

She nodded and gave him a smile "I told you a long time ago Natsu, I believe in you. I know what you're gonna figure this out and we'll find our way back to each other. I know that I'll find a way home again. Fairy Tail never gives up!"

He felt a rush of emotion for her at that moment. She was so special to him. He not only wanted her back, he needed her back. "Exactly Luce! And we're Fairy Tail wizards!" he exclaimed. They both put their hands up to the glass, foreheads pressed to it. It was the closest they could get right now.

"Our time is gonna be up soon, I think," she said, looking a little sad. "They'll wake us when the hour is up." He nodded, frowning a little as well.

"Yeah, I know. Erza and the others are waiting to wake up me, too. They'll be waking me pretty soon I bet," he said.

"Ohhh! Tell them I said hi! I miss everyone… It's been awhile. I can't wait to get home...hey Natsu?" she said quietly.

"Yeah Luce?" he replied.

"Can we make sure and have that picnic when I get back?" she asked, smiling at him. He laughed and nodded.

"Yeah Luce, of course. Anything you want!" he said cheerfully, flashing her a toothy grin. She smiled and giggled a little, giving him a bright smile.

Just then it started to grow hazy and Lucy seemed to fade a little. "Ah man, I think it's happening.." he muttered. "Lucy! I'll try to get to you as soon as I can! Just hang in there okay! I'll be coming soon! I promise!" he called to her, his whole body pressed up against the glass, desperately wanting to reach out to her. And then before he knew it she was gone.

He sat upright, his hammock swinging wildly, Erza and Gray both leaning over him. He was drenched in sweat and out of breath. Lisanna and Happy both looked worried.

"Natsu? Are you alright? Say something!" Erza said demandingly, gripping him by the shoulders and shaking him firmly.

"Rise and shine hot head! So did you see Lucy?" said Gray, prodding him in the side.

Natsu flailed and cried out in frustration, trying to get both of them away from him.

"Aaagghhh! Gett offff meee!" he shouted, clamouring out of the twisted up hammock.

The dragonslayer stomped out into the open space of his living room and freed himself of him swarming team members and friends. "Yeah, I saw Lucy. And now I gotta go find her for real," he said, heading for the door.

"Wait, Natsu, where are you going?" Lisanna called after him, but it was too late because he was already out the door and down the path. Happy didn't stop to ask questions, he simply followed straight after Natsu.

"Well now what?" Lisanna said, turning to Erza and Gray. Erza nodded toward the door.

"We follow him," she stated plainly.

 _ **Back with Lucy….**_

She saw him fading quickly as he pressed his body to the glass, calling out to her, and she pressed close to it as well, calling back to him. "I'm gonna try to get home too Natsu! I promise! I won't let you guys down!"

And then before she knew it, she was awake. Lucy sat up and looked around. Standing at her bedside were two girls with dark hair. One looked to be a young teenager and the other looked to be closer to her own age. It was easy to tell that they were related, probably sisters. They reminded her of someone… The older one cleared her throat.

"Greetings Lucy. My name is Lux, this is Laeri. We've come to bust you out of here."

 _ **Lucy and Natsu finally got to talk! Yay! It seems like they were able to exchange some pretty good information so let's hope that helps them out. Natsu is determined to find a way to Lucy, and Lucy is determined to get home. And now Lux and Laeri have shown up to… bust Lucy out?! What happened to doing things all smooth and orderly like? Guess that just doesn't happen when Fairy Tail is involved! Until next time! Please read and review! 3**_


	6. Busting Out

**Intro:** _**Lucy just had her dream meeting with Natsu and now Lux and Laeri have shown up to bust her out of the psych ward. Where are they taking Lucy? Does this mean she finally gets her keys back? Will we see what Natsu is up to back in Earthland?**_

 _ **Busting Out**_

"Greetings Lucy. My name is Lux, this is Laeri. We've come to bust you out of here," the one who called herself Lux stated. Lucy stared at her for a minute, blinking several times. The girl smiled slightly. "I realized that must sound a bit odd, but we don't have a lot of time. My mother timed her enchantments precisely so we should stick to the schedule." The young woman crouched down and opened the bag that was at her feet and pulled some clothes from it. Lucy watched her closely, uncertain as to what was going on. She held the clothes out to Lucy.

"Here, these are for you. I hope they fit okay. Mother said we were close to the same size so I brought you something of mine. You're welcome to keep them, though. I never did really wear those. Not really my style. Anyway, that doesn't matter," she explained, motioning to the clothes. Lucy looked at them as she held them outstretched toward her. A change of clothes would be really nice at this point. She was tired of the hospital garb for sure.

"Thanks. Um… who are you guys?" Lucy asked, taking the clothes from Lux. "You keep mentioning your mom?"

The younger one spoke this time, smiling brightly. "Oh yeah, you know her as Dr. Luminaria. She's our mom. She works in this weird place. I hate coming here. I dunno how you could stand being here for so long. She told us about you and now we're gonna help you get the hell out of here!" She was so spirited and animated that Lucy couldn't help but laugh a little as she threw her arms out to the side and then waved them around as she spoke, her gray colored eyes sparkling. Laeri was definitely the spunky one of the pair. She reminded Lucy a little of Shelia from Lamia Scale and would probably get along with Wendy really well, too.

Lucy's jaw dropped open, and she gasped a little. "Oh no way! You're Dr. Luminaria's daughters?! Wow! She told me she was going to send someone to wake me, but I had no idea it would be you guys! And I didn't know she was going be removing me from this place!"

"Well she's kind of overriding a higher up to get you out of here. There's someone else she would normally have to get clearance from, but she doesn't think we have the time to wait. There's a lot more going on here than you are aware of. But we'll fill you in on all that once we're out of here," Lux said somewhat hurriedly. "Maybe you should get changed." Lucy nodded and excused herself, drawing the curtain closed around her bed.

As she got dressed, Lucy thought about what was happening. She had no way of absolutely knowing she could trust these two, so she had to go with her gut and her gut was telling her that they seemed okay. If anything, once they were put in the open she would just make a run for it. Too bad she didn't at least have her Fleuve d'étoiles or even a regular whip. Then she would have a decent line of defense. _I wonder how common whips are in this world_... _Maybe I can get my hands on one..._ she thought to herself as she pulled on the boots Lux had given her. She stopped for a moment and looked in the mirror next to the bed.

Lux had brought her a pair of dark denim pants that some distressing marks on them along with a close fitting purple top and a short black leather jacket. The jackets went along well with the black boots she had just zipped up. "Oh, almost forgot.." Lucy murmured, noticing the black belt in the bed. Normally, her belt was a pretty important part of her outfit, and not just for the usual reasons. It was where she would attach the key wallet for her celestial keys and now- and then, almost as if on cue, Laeri's voice rang out.

"Oh! Lucy! I meant to give these to you!" the younger girl said excitedly, and perhaps a bit too loudly. Lucy jumped a little and pulled the curtain back quickly, not entirely sure of what was going on. Her eyes fell on Last I and what sat in her outstretched hands. Her keys...HER KEYS! It took a second for it to register.

"Oh my GOD you have my keys! I have been asking about them! Of course I knew no one was going to give them to me, but you'd think that they would kinda prove I'm not just totally making everything up and someone at this hospital would just let me-" Lucy ranted on, but then politely interrupted by Lux.

"Actually I confiscated them from Laeri,"Lux explained, then looking to her younger sister to explain the rest. The teen went on to describe the junk shop and "the old cheapskate", and her theories on how they likely ended up there in the first place. Lux urged them to move along and out the door.

"So my mom said you were found in Bellmore Park back among the nature trails. And I figure the old guy had his grandsons out there with metal detectors again. I know he sends them because his second oldest grandson, Jackson, is in my Algebra class. And he was talking about how he sends them out to look for stuff that gets lost by hikers and tourists. And they either make money off the reward or sell it for a hiked up price. Anyway, I think that's pretty messed up, so I don't feel so bad when I shortchange him on magical items I pick up there. He's kind of a jerk anyway," Laeri rambled on, explaining things in great detail to Lucy as they walked along.

"Definitely a jerk! Well I'm glad you got a hold of them then! I would be devastated if anything happened to my keys I don't know what I would do!" Lucy said, nodding firmly in agreement.

By this time the had exited the building by going down some service stairs and out a back entrance. It wasn't until they were outside in the moonlight that Lucy saw that Lux and Laeri were both carrying wands. Her hand went to her keys and she gripped them lightly. It felt so good to have them back. She _**hated**_ being without them. And above all else, these were her friends and she wanted to make sure they were always respected and kept safe.

By this time they were in what looked to be a parking lot. Lucy could only tell this because there were a few sparse vehicles around the area. She saw Lux open up the car and told them to get in.

"I'll let you have have shotgun this once, just cuz you're new and all," Laeri told Lucy with a grin, her raven colored ponytail bouncing behind her as she slipped into the backseat.

Lucy followed suit by getting into the front seat and managed to find the seat belt to buckle herself in. She hadn't been in the front of a lot of vehicles, but enough to know to buckle up. She watched Lux put a key near the steering wheel and turn it, and the car miraculously started up. Lucy gaped at her. She wasn't even connected to the car or _anything_. And she didn't see any meters for liquefied lacrima either

"Whoa! Vehicles here run without magic?! That's nuts! Wish they worked that way back home!" Lucy exclaimed as Lux shifted into drive. The dark hair young woman gave her an odd look, raising her eyebrow.

"What do you mean- Ohhhh waitttt… that's right! Most vehicles run on magic where you're from. Well, you know how a train runs on coal? Well here, cars run on a liquid called gasoline. I could explain a lot further, but it would probably be pretty boring, really," Lux said. Lucy smiled, looking around as they passed through the city.

"I don't mind really. I like a lot of stuff people find boring. I'm kind of a book nerd, really," Lucy replied, laughing a little. "Natsu always says I'm gonna turn into a book one day, since I read so many of them." For the first time that night, Lux cracked a smile and laughed a little.

"Hey, nothing wrong with that. I'm a huge book nerd. Nothing wrong with wanting to read and learn, I say!" she said.

"OH EM GEE you guys are boring me!" Laeri groaned from the back, making mock snoring sounds. Lux tutted, and shook her head which made her younger sister laugh a little.

"Oh c'mon Luxy, you know I'm just teasing. I'm not a smarty pants like you. Or like Miss Lucy here, it seems. So Lucy, you're a celestial wizard right? It looks like you've got almost the whole zodiac at your beck and call!"

Lucy had pulled down the visor and was looking in the small mirror. She could see Laeri's face in the backseat, smiling at her. She smiled kindly and turned in her seat a little to face more in the other girl's direction.

"I don't really think of it that way, but I am _**friends**_ with a lof spirits in the zodiac." Laeri and Lux both smiled and Laeri nodded.

"Ah I get it. That's really cool. See, we don't exactly have that kind of magic here. There are _some_ summoner type like warlocks and enchanters in the world, but they're rare. And _usually_ they're affiliated with some religion or a particular culture. So it's not the kind of thing you run into say, in a populated neighborhood with a bunch of people. Maybe on some mountaintop somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I dunno. Something like that." Laeri said, prattling on. Lux sighed a little, but Lucy just smiled.

She enjoyed hearing about this world, seeing as it was completely new and foreign to her. And it was the place her new friends were friends. It was always good to learn as much as you could about any new place that you traveled to. That was a pretty general rule for Lucy Heartfilia.

The car fell quiet for a bit after that and they rode along in silence. And then it dawned on Lucy that she hadn't even asked where they were taking her. That might be a good bit of information to get…

"So where _ARE_ we going anyway?" Lucy asked suddenly, looking at Lux, who seemed to be lost in thought or very concentrated on the road. The young woman blinked for a moment and then glanced at Lucy.

"Oh...oh! Sorry. I should have told you that. We're going to our house. My mother expressly told us to bring you home. You'll be staying with us until we can figure out how to get you back to Earthland. I hope you don't mind," she explained apologetically. "We're almost there. Just a few more minutes now."

Lucy laughed a little and shook her head, "I don't mind at all. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound demanding or anything. I just realized that I never asked. I'm totally fine with that."

The blonde mage sat back in her seat so that she was more comfortable. She definitely felt more at ease with these two than she had the entire time at the hospital. She watched the houses thin out as they seemed to get a little further from the thick of the city and she saw more trees. Before long they were traveling up a small dirt road lined with trees and came up upon an older looking house that gave off a warm, friendly, inviting glow. It reminded Lucy of the guildhall in a way.

As they got out of the car and gathered themselves, she could see Dr. Luminaria on the porch, waving and calling to them. "Oh girls, there you are, wonderful, wonderful. Hurry, hurry come inside now," she called, urging them forward. Her daughters climbed the stairs and made their way into the house, Lucy following close behind. She was greeted at the door by the doctor.

"Lucy, my dear! So very good to see you, Please come into my home!" she said in her usual grand fashion, gesturing to the old house as Lucy stepped inside. Inside she was greeted cheerfully by a disembodied voice.

"Welcome Lucy Heartfilia!" said the voice

Lucy couldn't help but smile. "Thanks! Wow, you guys are so friendly. I really appreciate it!" She smiled warmly and laughed a little. While she hadn't expected such hospitality, to say she wasn't used to it would be a lie, as it was the way anyone whom entered Fairy Tail was treated. Friends old and new were always valued. So this made her feel right at home, and that was a feeling she certainly had been missing out on these last few weeks. She turned to Dr. Luminarnia.

"Dr. Luminaria thank you so much for getting out of that place! Your daughters said that you kind of had to overstep a higher up? I hope you don't get into trouble...I would have to be a bother at all!" she said urgently in a worried tone.

The doctor laughed and quickly dismissed her worries with a gentle wave, and then taking Lucy's hand, leading her further into the house as she spoke, "Worry not my dear, mere formalities. As I explained to you, our kind are sprinkled throughout the non-magical systems and it is a mere technicality that you were even still in that hospital! They were searching for clarification that you weren't a portal jumper! I told them it was ridiculous and you don't even fit the description, but well, you know people and their paperwork," she went on to explain.

"A portal jumper?" Lucy asked curiously. Now they were in the middle of a parlor area, filled with a large crackling fireplace and several squashy chairs and couches. The room was crammed full of bookshelves and artwork of various kinds. There were all sorts of plants, and it look like a few bird cages hanging about. She could see crystal shinning by the window and it looked like a glowing communication lacrima on the table top over a small holder. Now Lux and Laeri had joined them. "Please excuse me a moment," Dr. Luminarnia said.

"A portal jumper is someone who travels between different realms, generally, as the name describes, through portals," Lux explained.

"Oh wow. Is that illegal or something?" Lucy asked, eyes wide. She had never heard of such a thing. She had traveled between Earthland and Edolas, but that definitely hadn't been for the hell of it.

"Well, there are legal ways to do it. You have to have certain licences and meet certain specifications. You have to be trained in teleportation magic and alchemy. It gets pretty complicated. Our older sister Kyela is a portal jumper, has a PhD in Teleportation and Alchemic Sciences. She's always been quite the adventurer. That's who we're hoping can help us get you back to Earthland," Lux continued to explain. "It's only illegal when someone opens an unauthorized portal into an undocumented location. Usually they're doing it to smuggle magic between worlds. There's always a black market for things that are banned or has limited availability."

"Wow, that's just crazy. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for some cash," Lucy said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Just then the doctor returned a tea tray and a plate full of delicious looking treats. "Please dear, come sit, tell me how things went! The dream! Did you make contact with your friends?" the doctor said, motioning for Lucy to sit.

"Oh! Jeez, yes! Thank you so much Dr. Luminarnia! I got to talk to Natsu! Funny enough, he had gotten a similar potion for Porlyusica and was doing the same thing I was. Isn't that crazy?" Lucy gushed, taking a seat on the sofa across the the doctor. Lux sat next to Lucy and Laeri next to their mother. Lucy went on to tell them about her lucid dream state, describing what she experienced in detail. She told the doctor how she gave Natsu details about her last memories and location at the time, what details she knew of when she was found here.

"And from what I understand, they're going to go search the area again, to see if they missed anything at all," Lucy continued, taking a sip of the tea she had been offered. "I was also wondering if I should go look around the area where they found me, to see if I can find anything myself."

Dr. Luminaria nodded, "Ah yes, I had a vision of her, this Porlyusica. I saw her giving a potion to a pink haired dragonslayer and giving him the same instructions I gave you. I'm so very happy that it all worked out well. Now please, drink up, eat up dear. And by the way, please call me Allura."

" We're going to go check out the spot tomorrow, Lucy. There's a chance you fell through a slip rift, which is a form of an accidental portal. See, sometimes when illegal portal jumpers make an unauthorized docking point, they case little rips and tears that they don't bother to seal back up. So they just hang out there and something like this could happen," Lux went on to explain, helping herself to a scone from the plate.

After the fifth time of being offered, Lucy took a pastry from the plate as well, and listened intently to Lux, who seemed to know the most about the portals. "So you think I fell through some kind of portal? Maybe if we find it I can just climb back through!" she said excitedly, then taking a bite of the pastry she was served. She noticed it was exceptionally tasty and made her feel rather comforted and relaxed.

Lux shook her head and frowned a bit. "Unfortunately, it won't work that way. Often the portals don't go both ways. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can get an exit portal right next to an entrance portal, but with these accidental rips, it's all a game of chance. And it's way more likely that it wouldn't work. Sorry to disappoint you, Lucy."

"Oh," Lucy said, looking a bit crestfallen. For a split second she thought there might be an easy way for her to get home, but from the sounds of it easy definitely wasn't in the cards for this situation. "It's okay. I understand. But you were saying that maybe your sister could help?"

"For sure! Kyela is like WAY smart and knows tons and tons of stuff about portals and inter-dimensional travel and everything." said Laeri, jumping into the conversation, " I totally want to try portal jumping! There are a lot of risks so you have to be of age. Anyway, she might know of a legit portal to your world!"

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Wow, well I really hope so! I definitely want to get home as soon as I can. No offense to you guys of course! You've been awesome!"

After they conversed a little while longer, the doctor had Laeri show Lucy to the room she would be staying in and told Lucy that a few of her personal effects would be waiting for her there. When they reached the room, she saw that there was her backpack and a set of clothing. She couldn't help but wonder what happened to the picnic basket she had been carrying. She checked the backpack and everything was still in tact. She saw that she had packed her Fleuve d'étoiles into her backpack as well. She definitely felt a lot more prepared and at ease than she had 24 hours ago.

Once she had washed up and changed into some sleep clothes, Lucy climbed into the big soft bed in the cozy little room. The patchwork comforter was so fluffy and warm, she felt drowsy almost in an instant. "Sooo...fluffy…" she murmured, as the fell to sleep, knowing that tomorrow she would come another step closer to getting home and back to Natsu and the others.

 _ **Meanwhile in Earthland…**_

Natsu reached the area near the cluster of large oak trees long before anyone else, and started to comb over the area, using his own flames to light the way. Happy showed up not long after him, eager to help.

"Hey Natsu! What is it we're lookin' for?" Happy asked him as he felt around the base of a tree, hoping to find some kind of answer. The dragonslayer kept looking closely at every surface he came across.

"I'm not sure little buddy, but we'll know when we find it!" he said excitedly. They continued to look and before long they could hear the calls of their friends not far in the distance.

Erza and Gray appeared in the clearing and trailing behind them was Lisanna, slightly out of breath.

"Everyone look at every minor detail. Leave no pebble, no acorn unturned!" Erza said diplomatically.

Natsu and Gray both nodded and Lisanna joined Happy in his search. Each of them worked for a long time in silence, holding their torches closely to each surface to make sure they didn't miss anything. (Except for Natsu of course, he could provide his own fire.)

"Man this sucks! We're not finding a damn thing!" Gray cried out in frustration. "Hey Natsu, did Lucy tell you any other details about what she was doing?"

There was no reply.

"Hey flame brain! I asked you a question!" the ice mage yelled, growing agitated.

Still no reply.

"What the hell is your problem Natsu?"

"Natsu, Gray asked you a question. You could at least acknowledge him," Erza said with a sigh.

Again, no reply.

Erza surfaced from where she had been searching. Gray walked over to join her, holding up his torch as she was, lighting the area they had last seen Natsu. Now Happy floated over, followed by Lisanna.

"Hey Natsu, where are you?" Happy called out, now growing worried. "Natttsssuuuu!" He flew back and forth and all around the clearing, but to no avail. The blue Exceed found nothing.

Natsu was nowhere to be found.

 _ **Wait a minute...where did Natsu go?! Could he have possibly found one of those slip rifts that Lux was talking about? Is it possible that he's now in this world? Lucy might find more than she bargained for when she goes searching in the morning! But what a welcome surprise that would be! And imagine Natsu in our world… Uh oh… Until next time~ Reads and reviews appreciated!**_


	7. Reunited

_**AN: For those of you following, sorry it took so long for me to update. I had a creative block for a while, but I think I have my groove back, so I'll be back to updating weekly! Anyway, on to the next chapter, Hope you enjoy!**_

 **Reunited**

Natsu tumbled and felt himself crash hard into the the ground. He landed noisily from the innards of a tree and felt the wind knocked out of him. Groaning, he rubbed his head, then rolling over onto his side. It was dark out and there were a lot of trees. The area was pretty similar to the one he had just been searching, but definitely different. It smelled different. Completely different. There were people closer by, and a lot of them. Maybe was this...a park of some sort? It definitely wasn't like the woods he had just left. And the air felt different. Heavier than Earthland, for sure. He didn't sense magical energy in the air like he could back home. There must not be a natural source of Eternano floating around like in their world.

 _I wonder if my magic works here,_ he thought. And then he proceeded to ignite his fist with a flame, seeing that it burned as brightly as ever. In fact, maybe a little brighter. There was something odd about his fire here. Something wild about it. He wasn't sure what it was exactly _,_ but he didn't really have time to think about that right now. All he cared about was finding Lucy. He had no idea where to find her. THe most he knew was that she was being held in some kind of hospital where everyone though she was crazy. He wanted to get her out of there as soon as possible. The pink haired dragonslayer didn't care what it took to get her back. He was going to find that place and get her out no matter what. And if that meant burning some stuff down in the process, then so be it.

Getting up from the spot on the ground, he dusted himself off and then took a good strong whiff of the air. Natsu could almost swear he could smell Lucy, but he knew it had been weeks since she had been in that spot. He began searching around, using his flames to light the way, and eventually he came across a scrap of clothing that must have torn off her shirt. It was just a small little corner that must have caught on a branch during her fall. It smelled just like her. He inhaled the scent deeply, almost feeling a little obscene. But he couldn't help it. He missed her so much. He continued to look around making sure he didn't miss anything else.

"Well nothing else here. Time to go and find Lucy," he said, determined to take on whatever crossed his path. "I'm coming for you, Luce."

 _ **The Next Morning**_

Lucy woke up early and showered in the small bathroom that was off the side of the bedroom she was staying in. As she got dressed she noticed some pictures decorating the walls. She noticed one in particular of Lux and Laeri with a young woman who looked to be an older version of both of them combined. She was tall and lean, dressed in a sort of edgy engineer style, wearing large brass looking goggles on her head. Her hair had purple streaks in it, and it look liked there were some braids mixed into her long locks. She had Lux's determined stare and Laeri's cheeky smile. This must be Kyela, their older sister. "I wonder when I'll meet her," Lucy wondered aloud. She actually did hope it would be soon, partially out of curiosity, but mostly out of the desire to get home as soon as possible.

After she was ready for the day, Lucy exited the room with her things and went downstairs. She managed to find her way down to what looked to be the kitchen. There she found the girls sitting around a large table and Allura at the stove, cooking something that smelled wonderful. The aroma hit Lucy full on, causing her stomach to growl loudly.

"Ah, Lucy my dear, please come! Join us!" the doctor said, motioning toward the table. She wore a very colorful floral apron that had a large bow tied in the back. Unable to deny her hunger from the very vocal display her stomach had just made, Lucy sat down with the family and had some breakfast.

Once they had finished breakfast, the girls and Lucy loaded into Lux's vehicle once again. Allura would stay behind in order to attempt to contact Kyela. They were going to see what they could find at the spot where Lucy had been found. The ride there felt as though it was taking forever. Lucy sat in the seat, wringing her hands and looking around anxiously as they passed through the city. She had a gut feeling that they were going to find something today. Ever since she woke up, she just felt it. And the closer they got to the park, the more strongly she could feel it. Something was going to happen. She just knew it.

"We're just about there, Lucy," Lux said, glancing at the nervous celestial wizard. "Are you doing okay?" Lucy nodded as she continued to look around.

"Yeah I'm okay, thanks. Just anxious to get started. I just really feel like something big is going to happen. I can feel it in my gut," Lucy said. She wasn't sure just what was to come, but she had a very distinct feeling that there would be some results today.

Soon after they pulled up to a parking area and got out of the car. There was a map of the park area near the front of the park entrance and Lux pointed out the area they were looking for. They started there on foot, and Lucy set a rather quick pace. She couldn't help it. She just anxious to get searching. Along the way, she couldn't help but notice some areas that looked like they had been burned a little. But she quickly dismissed it and kept moving.

When they finally reached the area where Lucy had been found, she began looking around everywhere to see if there was any sign of anything that might tell her how she ended up there. But since it had been nearly a month now, it was hard to say if there was any evidence of her entrance into this world at all. But then she noticed some broken branches. They were still wet...as if they had recently been broken. And close by them were some scorch marks… like the ones she had seen along the way in the park. Scorch marks… fire…. She could still smell the remnants of smoke. This didn't smell like ordinary fire...

"Oh my god!" she gasped, her hands covering her mouth, staggering on her feet as the shock hit her suddenly. Could it be? Could he be… _here_? "No...way…"she whispered.

Lux and Laeri, whom had been looking around the clearing as Lucy had, noticed her stumble and suddenly look shocked. They rushed to her in alarm. "Lucy! Are you alright?"

The young mage nodded, slightly dazed, "Yes, I'm okay.. I just realized something…" Both young witches looked at each other and then looked at her curiously.

"What's going on Lucy?" Lux asked tentatively, watching the celestial wizard cautiously, worried that she might fall over or pass out.

Lucy looked her, smiling brightly, her eyes bright with the shine of tears.

"It's Natsu… I think.. I think Natsu is here!"

 _ **Elsewhere in the City…**_

 _What the hell is this place? It looks and smells so weird. And the people look weird. They all dress funny. And talk about funny smelling. All I can smell is chemicals! And these people are glued to their mini communication lacrimas! Jeez.. And there's so many vehicles.. But I can't sense any magic… Goddamit! Where the hell is Lucy!_ Natsu's mind raced with a myriad of thoughts, confused and frustrated by his new surroundings. They were nothing like Fiore or anywhere else in Earthland.

The only similarities were that they seemed to speak the same language and had some of the same foods. But they were really into something called pumpkin spice, used something called a hashtag a lot, and they advertised that there was an app for everything. He had been relying on his nose thus far to try and track down the place that Lucy might be, but had no luck whatsoever. He had been avoiding using his magic because of what Lucy told him. In this world, most people didn't even believe in magic, let alone use it. So it was pretty certain that people would freak out if they saw a guy that could manifest fire at will. And getting caught up in something would only stop him from getting to Lucy. It was almost out of character for Natsu to be so rational, but he knew what was at stake this time… he just needed to find her. And this was the only way.

At this point he thought maybe he was better going back to the park where he started out and regrouping. That sounded like something Lucy might do. _Yeah, Luce would find somewhere safe and familiar and make a plan._ Natsu tended to be impetuous and rash most of the time, going on gut instinct alone, but this was a different case altogether. He needed to think this one through. That was when he decided to head back in the original direction he had come from, toward the park. He was going at a steady run, wanting to get back quickly so he could figure out what he was going to do. Suddenly, as he worked his way closer to the park, he caught a scent...a familiar scent. A wonderfully, beautifully familiar scent… Lucy!

His pace changed from quick to breakneck as he charged toward the park, dodging vehicles on roads and almost causing accidents, pushing through crowds, traveling blindly and following this lovely, delicious scent that belonged to no one other than his Lucy. His heart pounded and thrashed in his chest, rocking his ribcage and sending shockwaves through his body. She was close… so very close. The scent was growing stronger. He could see the treetops of the park… _Lucy! I'm coming! I'm almost there Luce!_

 _ **With Lucy….**_

"It's Natsu… I think.. I think Natsu is here!"

Lux and Laeri stared at her wide eyed and mouths agape, completely stunned. They certainly had not been expecting to hear that, of all things. Lux shook herself out of the momentary stupor. "Oh my God! Lucy! Wow! What should we do!?"

Laeri snapped it it all of the sudden, shaking her head. "Ohmigosh yeah! What do you need us to do Lucy? Should we go find him?" They both looked alarmed and shaken, wholly uncertain as to what to do next. They were looking to Lucy for guidance and instruction.

Lucy felt this strange sense of familiarity...it felt like...warmth...it felt like… home. And it was getting closer, stronger by the moment. Her heartbeat quickened until it was pounding in her chest, like it was trying to escape right out of her. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, her chest tightening to where she almost couldn't breathe. _It's him. He's coming for me._

"Natsu... " she whispered. She could feel him. His warm, his essence. He was on his way there. She didn't need go anywhere. "No.. we don't need to go anywhere. He's going to find us."

And not a moment later an all too familiar cry came from not far in the distance, bringing tears to Lucy's eyes as she saw a head full of familiar salmon colored locks charging toward her.

"LUUUUUCCCCCCCYYYYYYYY!"

Tears spilled over when she heard his voice, and she was sobbing uncontrollably now. She couldn't stop them. The tears just kept coming.

"NAAAATTTTTSSSSSUUUUU!"

Her cries were watery and strangled as her voice cracked through her tears. The closer he got, the weaker her knees felt until she could no longer hold herself up, but that mattered not because by that very moment, he had reached her, capturing her in his arms. And there he cradled her close to him, and she clung on just as hard, the tears coming even more readily now. He whispered softly to her, petting her hair and nuzzling her cheek as she cried and whispered his name. Their lips searched for one another, crushing together almost painfully, the desperation of their forced separation evident in the hungry kiss. The feverish and pained kiss eased in a soft and affectionate exchange as they calmed in one another's arms.

Lux and Laeri looked on, both smiling tearfully, feeling happy for their friend. When Lucy had spoken of Natsu, it had been quite obvious that she loved him a great deal, but it was all the more evident when you saw them together. Though they did feel a bit awkward when they saw the two reunited loves with their foreheads together, lips lightly brushing together as they whispered sweet nothings. (Well Lux was more embarrassed, as she was a bit more on a the reserved side in that sense, but Laeri just "awwwwed" and thought they were "totes adorbs".)

After several moments, Natsu and Lucy broke apart, and Lucy looked at the girls, pink in the face, realizing that they had been displaying a fair amount of affection in front of the girls for that last had only ever had such an exchange in private, and open affection between them was something fairly new to them at that. Clearing her throat, she stood up and straightened her clothes, took Natsu's hand, and stepped closer to them. "So this is Natsu, the guy I told you about," Lucy said, smiling brightly. She then turned to Natsu and motioned to the two young women. "Natsu, this is Lux and Laeri, my friends. They helped me get out of that horrible hospital. Their mother is the sorceress that helped me get the dream potion, Dr. Luminarnia. They're both witches. Kind of like wizards in our world."

Lux smiled and gave a polite hello. Laeri was a little more direct and smiled brightly, offering to shake his hand. Natsu gave them his signature toothy grin and welcomed them wholeheartedly. "Any friend of Luce's is a friend of mine. Nice to meetcha! And thanks for helping out Lucy. I was really worried about her being stuck in that horrible place. That's why I had to come looking for her!"

Lucy blinked and few times and it dawned on her that she had yet to find out just HOW he had gotten there in the first place. "Speaking of which, how the hell DID you get here?!" Lucy asked, hands on her hips. The three young women stared at him questioningly.

He then broke into how after waking up from the lucid dream state he had taken off for the spot Lucy had mentioned to him straight away and started looking around for some hint or clue. He explained that the others came with him and were searching as well. That they were all looking for hours and searching for some evidence of where Lucy might have disappeared.

"And then all the sudden I came crashing down through a tree and smacked into the ground, headfirst. Man it really hurt. It's no wonder you got all banged up, Luce. But since I was kind of prepared for it, I was able to sorta shield my head and stuff. I remembered how you said they thought you fell out of a tree. So I figured I might fall from up, you know?" Natsu explained.

As odd as it sounded, everything he said made sense. When they had arrived at the site, they had noticed the broken branches amongst the various scorch marks. Lucy looked up and around the area. There was one particular tree that looked like it had a bit of damage to it.

"This tree here. It looks like this might have been around where you fell in, Natsu. And it might be the same place I fell in, too," Lucy said, walking toward it. She pivoted and turned toward Lux. "Maybe we should mark this tree somehow and show it to your sister when we get in contact with her. She might know something."

Lux nodded and approached the tree, withdrawing her wand and making a lighted X mark on the tree. The illuminated X seemed to sink into the tree and disperse amongst the branches. Lucy and Natsu both watched in a bit of awe. It was different than than the magic they were used to.

"Whoa! What's that do?" Natsu asked, curious, looking at Lux, smiling widely. Lux chuckled a little and motioned to the tree.

"It's a shadow locator spell. It makes an imprint of sorts. So that even say, if the tree was to be gone for some reason, it leaves a shadow imprint of the tree in that exact spot, of its exact current state. So we would still be able to see where the damage was. It's important to see where the damage is because that gives us a more precise idea of the pinpoint location of entry. And my sister Kyela would need that information in order to know whether or not she can use the same portal to get you guys back home," Lux explained thoroughly.

Natsu chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Wow. you're really smart. You sound like our pal Levy back home. What's a portal anyway?"

Lucy smiled and shook her head " We'll explain it all to you. But first we're going to get out of here for now. And by the way, what's with all the scorch marks?! You didn't go burning down half the city did you?!"

Natsu looked around at the areas she was pointing to and then shrugged. There were a few mildly charred trees and some burnt grass areas. He had tested out his fire a bit, and been looking for clues. (Okay, so mostly testing out his fire, but he DID look for clues, too).

"What? I was looking around and it was dark!" he exclaimed defensively.

She eyed him suspiciously, wagging a finger at him, her tone one of warning. "I swear to God Natsu Dragneel, if I find out you burned down ONE building or ANYTHING like that here, there will be hell to pay, do you HEAR ME? I mean it! This isn't Earthland and you can't go around destroying stuff!"

"I didn't Luce! I promise! Jeez! Wouldja calm down already?!" he said, throwing his hands up in the air and shaking his head. Lux quirked up an eyebrow as they continued to argue like an old married couple and Laeri just giggled. She thought they were a really cute couple.

They continued on like this as they traveled back to Lux's car. The plan was to head back to the Luminaria home and see if the doctor had been able to make contact to Kyela. The next step would be to work with her in order to find a way to get Lucy and Natsu home to Earthland.

What they didn't realize was that as they made their way to the car, got in and drove away was that someone had been keeping a watchful eye on them all the while. Someone whom had perhaps heard a bit more than they should have. The dark figure slunked away amongst the shadows, cackling to himself.

 _ **Yay! Lucy and Natsu are finally reunited! Little bit of NaLu fluff there. D'awww! And Natsu managed to not burn down the city….yet. We'll see what happens as we get on in the story. Lol But who is this mysterious dark figure sneaking around in the shadows? Could this mean trouble for our friends? We'll see next time! Thanks for reading! Reviews appreciated! : D**_


	8. The Portal Jumper

_**A/N: Back with another update! Sorry it's a little delayed! I hope those of you who are following are enjoying the story. And I hope to attract newcomers as we go along! :D Anyway, on to the story!**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail.

 **The Portal Jumper**

Before they got in the car, Lucy informed Lux of Natsu's issues with motion sickness and she had a temporary but easy remedy. She cast a charm that allowed his equilibrium to remain balanced while in the vehicle. They traveled back to the Luminaria home and they started to explain their plan to Natsu about contacting Kyela to get them back home to Earthland. They also explained a bit about how magic worked in this world, and how it was different than magic in their world. The girls were really curious about his magic, especially because it was so rare. "I can't believe you were raised by a real live DRAGON!" Laeri exclaimed, throwing her hands up. Natsu grinned from ear to ear and nodded.

"Yup, good ol' Igneel. That was my dad. He was the best, too. The Fire Dragon King," Natsu boasted, obviously proud of his dragon brethren. Lucy couldn't help but smile. She knew how much he loved Igneel and how much he missed him. It was really hard on him losing him, even if it had been for an honorable cause. They had made it a habit of visiting his grave together, along with her parents' graves. It was a something they did once a month, so long as they weren't on a job. This was something that came at his suggestion. He had really matured in the last couple of years. She looked at him and just beamed. Gods, she had missed him. She watched him talk with the girls, going on about his childhood with Igneel and the other dragonslayers. When they finally reached the house, they unloaded from the car and Lucy started to warn Natsu that he better not use his fire magic inside the house.

"I mean it Natsu!" she hissed in a whisper, and he frowned. "Okay okay! Jeez! Do we at least get to sleep in the same room?" he asked. Lucy's face blushed crimson. "Um… I don't..know. I'm not sure how they would feel about that, you know? Just don't ask about it!" She shook her head and took his hand, leading him into the house. They were greeted by Dr. Luminaria in her usual grandiose fashion.

She had changed into silky lounge robes that were purple and scarlet and flowed elegantly around her long frame. Her dark hair was wrapped up again in a matching headwrap.

"Come children, please, I've prepared some delicious delectables for you my darlings! And I have a wonderful surprise!" she gushed as she ushered them inside. She stopped, when she saw Natsu with Lucy, her eyes wide with curiosity. She chuckled warmly, heartily. "It seems you have a surprise for me as well! Please let us all gather in the dining room!"

They all filed into the house one by one, the girls continuing on to the dining room, but Lucy and Natsu hung back in the foyer for a moment. "Um, Dr. Luminaria, this is...Natsu. We...found..each other… at the park. I guess he sorta ended up here the same way I did. Anyway, sorry to just kinda have another guest barging in like this. But I didn't know what else to do, and I kinda thought it might be okay. But if it's a problem, we can see other arrangements," Lucy rambled on nervously, trying to explain how Natsu had just suddenly shown up out of nowhere.

The doctor smiled and gently touched Lucy's arm, nodding. "Yes, yes my dear, please do not worry. I foresaw that someone would be joining us soon, though I had not expected this exact surprise! Of course your friend is welcome! It's a pleasure to meet it… was it.. Natsu?" She smiled warmly and extended a hand to him. Natsu looked at Lucy and she nodded. He grinned and shook the doctor's hand.

"Pleased to meet ya. You must be the doctor Luce has been tellin' me about. Thanks for helping us out. I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to her!" he said, his expression growing serious.

"Really, it was the very least that could be done to help a fellow magic brethren. And I have made it my duty to help those in need! Now please, if we could continue to the dining room, there is someone I Would like for you two to meet!" The doctor made a grand sweeping motion toward an archway at the end of the hall and they followed her into the room beyond the beaded curtains.

It was a larger, more spacious room with a tall vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and a large candle chandelier hanging above the large table. There was already a course set out on the dining table and couple of kitchen staff seemed to be with them tonight, moving things about and serving various dishes. When they entered, three young women stood up from the table. Lucy noticed that one of them was the young woman from the picture, the one that looked like an older version of Lux and Laeri combined. She assumed this must be Kyela. She was quite pretty in person, her eyes a bright shining with curiosity, but she also had a bit of a smirk on her face.

"Lucy, Natsu, I would like to present my daughter, Dr. Kyela Luminaria, phd in Teleportation and Alchemic magics. Kyela, my dear, this is Lucy and Natsu, and they need your help to get back to Earthland. "

Kyela reached across the table, offering a hand for each of them to shake, one after the other. She had a firm handshake, reminiscent of Erza. It was clear that she was no frail and fragile little flower. "So you got yourselves stuck here, huh? Of all places to fall into. Too bad it wasn't somewhere more interesting, huh? Oh well, At least it wasn't Edolas. That place is zilch on magic anymore. IMPOSSIBLE to get a portal in or out of there anymore," she said, rambling a little, chuckling as she spoke. Lucy relaxed a little. Kyela was more relaxed than she first appeared. Natsu seemed unphased by her demeanor.

"Ah man Edolas! Don't get me started on that weirdo place! We had counterparts there that were so WEIRD! They weren't like us at ALL! You know my guy actually LIKED vehicles? Crazy. But it wouldn't be so bad to see Mystogan, again, though. Or was it Prince Jellal? I forget. He was an alright guy, and still a member of Fairy Tail. Once nakama, always nakama," Natsu rambled.. Lucy elbowed him a little as he prattled on. But Kyela didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, she was rather intrigued.

"Oh, so you've been to Edolas? And you know the prince? I heard he had been living in another world working to stop the Anima spell his father had set in motion, and that he was part of the famous Fairy Tail guild. Don't tell me you two are part of THAT guild?!" she exclaimed.

Lucy and Natsu looked at each other curiously, shrugging and then back at Kyela. "Yeah, we're members of Fairy Tail. Proud of it too!" Natsu said, showing off his red guild mark on his shoulder. Lucy followed up by showing her pink one donned on her right hand. Both showed them off proudly. Kyela grinning and hit the tabletop, laughing.

"Wow! Imagine that. Damn, Mom, you didn't tell me you had a couple Fairies in our midsts. This is getting better and better! So wait, Lucy and Natsu of Fairy Tail…. You're Lucy Heartfilia! The celestial wizard! And Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragonslayer! You guys were in the war that defeated both Zeref and Acnologia! Damn! It's an honor to meet you in the flesh and blood!"

The two were taken aback by her knowledge of their past and had no idea that someone from another world would have idea about their personal lives and any of their history. They looked at each other and blinked. Lucy looked back at Kyela, feeling uneasy. "Um… just how do you know so much about us?"

Kyela laughed again, now returning to her seat and motioning for them to take a seat across the table. "Please, sit and enjoy a meal with us. I'll explain. " The two tentatively sat. A meal was hard to resist as Lucy was already fairly comfortable with the rest of the family and Natsu was absolutely starving by this point. Lucy was just feeling a little thrown off by the sudden history review.

"See, being a portal jumper, I travel between a lot of different worlds. And when you travel between worlds, you get word of what's happening in different places. For quite a long time any access portals to Earthland were strictly forbidden because the black wizard Zeref was known to be alive and active. Also there was the threat of the dreaded magic dragon king Acnologia. There had been some trade ports at one time, but when word got out that Zeref was back in action, any and all options were truncated immediately. And because magic is so readily available in Earthland, a black market quickly developed. That's when a bunch of illegal trade, thus illegal ports were being made in order to transfer magical goods, and in some cases people or animals," Kyela explained. Her expression grew grim. "As the underground market grew, the sinister nature of the goods being transferred started worsening in severity, we're talking like, demonic stuff here and it's only been getting worse since then."

Lucy piped up then. "Yeah Lux was telling me something about illegal ports sometimes causing what they call time rips? And how that maybe that was how I ended up here in the first place? Well I and now Natsu. Do you think that could be it?" she ask Kyela. The dark hair young doctor nodded.

"Yes I think Lux's assessment was pretty on the money. I think you probably did end up here through a time rip caused by an illegal portal, but as she also might have told you, those are often only one way. So unfortunately, that won't do us any good in getting you home." she went on.

"Oh shit! You said that all portals to Earthland were closed because of the war! Now how the hell do we get home?!" Natsu said, raising his voice and almost shouting. Lucy gaped at him. Though she was wondering something similar, she didn't see any need to be practically screaming profanities. "Natsu, language!" she muttered, nudging him. He looked at her, scowling.

"What?! Seriously, Luce! I'm just wondering what we're supposed to do now!"

Kyela shook her head, smiling still, "No no, you didn't let me finish. Ports are being opened back up now that the war had ended. You see, even though it's been some time since you accomplished the task, there has been a lot of red tape on this end. You're actually the first individuals to come through from Earthland in a long time. And our relations with Earthland were still fairly new to begin with. We had only been dealing with the Magic Council at this point, and had not opened to public trade. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Earthland magic works a little differently here. Earthland magic is a bit more unpredictable here."

Natsu spoke up then. "Yeah! I did actually! When I lit up my fire, it was a lot brighter and hotter, really burned stuff up quick!" Lucy shot him a suspicious scowl and glared at him. He smiled sheepishly and looked back to Kyela. She chuckled a bit and continued on.

"Yeah, that's the thing, You have to be careful. Research is still being done. Anyway, some individuals took it upon themselves to do private trading. They got away with it through a few loopholes. Anyway, now that things are opening back up, it should be no problem to get a port opened up to get you two home. Especially considering who you are!" She also went on to explain about how a lot of information got traded over the networks and that was how she knew so much about them. Their victories were also hugely monumental given that the fear of the magics of Zeref and Acnologia spread across several realms.

Both Lucy and Natsu sighed a heavy sigh of relief, smiles coming to both of their faces. Now they knew they would be going home soon. And for now they were at least together, and that was all that mattered. Before they knew it, they would be back home with their guild family and everything would be back to how it was supposed to be. They were able to ease back and enjoy their meal, laughing and conversing with the Luminaria family, hearing about some of Kyela's adventures and sharing some of their own stories. It proved to be a really lovely evening that left everyone feeling far more at ease.

 _ **Back at the Park...**_

A loud rumbling sound accompanied by the rustling and breaking of branches followed by a SPLAT onto the cold hard ground sounded through the clearing. A small blue ball of fur came tumbling from the treetops and thudded hard into the ground. "Ooof! Oww!" exclaimed a certain blue Exceed as he came crashing into surface below. Once he had come to a stop he grabbed his head, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Slowly getting to his feet, he tried to get his wits about him.

"Jeez...that was a hard fall! Where am I? I wonder if Natsu is here! Or maybe Lucy…. Oh man, I'm kinda scared...and hungry… " Happy murmured to himself nervously, dusting himself off as he took a few steps around the clearing, looking around for any signs for life. He noticed some of the familiar looking scorch marks nearby. "Yup, Natsu's definitely been here!" He ran over to where the scorch marks were. The ground was cold. It had been some time since he had been there.

"Guess it's time to get airborne and find Natsu and Lucy! And some fish!" he exclaimed confidently. Happy threw one fist into the air and brought out his wings, pushing himself into the air at top speed, but he was stopped dead in his tracks by a large net. It wrapped around him and pulled him back to the ground, negating his aera magic.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" Happy exclaimed as he felt the net overtake him. "Who the heck is doing that? Why are you trapping me? I'm just a poor innocent cat!" The blue Exceed cried unabashedly, flailing as the net drew him in. There was a sinister and throaty chuckle coming from the shadows.

"That's right little blue kitty, you just come along quietly now," cracked the old man's voice. He stepped into the light and the face of the pawn shop owner came into view. His eyes gleamed with greed and excitement. This… now THIS was going to be the motherload. A flying, talking magical cat?! Someone would pay a fortune for that!

"Natssuuuu! Lucccyyyy! Helllppp meee! The bad guys got me!" the young cat cried out, hoping his friends might be somewhere nearby and come to his rescue. His cries grew louder and more bold with every attempt.

The old man cringed and tried hushing the sky colored feline. He kept trying to call out to these Natsu and Lucy people, obviously thinking they might be somewhere in the vicinity. The last thing he needed was for someone to come along and take away his cash cow, or in this case, cash cat, properly. He wasn't going to go giving up this cat for free. Hell no. Finders keepers! And no pay day for losers! He sniggered to himself, finding his own quips to be rather humorous, as much as they weren't at all. A few moments later his grandson arrived carrying a large sack that had been intended for 'loot', but now would house the feline.

"Come on, hurry up boy! I've got something here that will make me rich!" he said giddily, rubbing his hands together, his plump body hobbling over to where he had Happy trapped under the net.

"We're gonna be rich Gramps?!" the boy said with excitement, his voice far too loud for the old man's liking. He shushed the boy with great annoyance in his voice. "Would you _shut up_! Don't go advertising it to the whole damn world. And what's this we nonsense? Just get over here and get this here cat into this loot sack!"

"Wahhhhh!~ Someone help meeee! Nattttsssuuuu! Luuucccyyyyyy~ ! " the cat continued to wail loudly. The old man cringed again. The teenager stared at the cat dumbly and shook his head a few times before turning back to his grandfather.

"Grandpa! That cat is talking!"

"I know that, you idio! It's a magic cat! Now get him in the loot sack and let's get back to the car and get him to my shop, goddammit!" the old man scolded, nearly losing his temper.

The boy shrugged and proceeded to grab Happy, net and all and shoved him into the loot bag, his cries about Natsu and Lucy and how they'd be sorry muffled as they were drowned out by the thick canvas of the loot bag. Once they had him inside the loot bag, the old man and his dimwitted grandson headed back to his musty shop. On the way, the old man couldn't help but think about the names the cat kept repeating, Natsu and Lucy. He swore those were the names he had heard the day before… when he had overheard those Luminaria girls with the two oddballs. The fire conjurer and the celestial summoner. They were saying something about illegal portals and finding rips. If there was something to be profited off of, he wanted in on it. Come to think of it, if he really belonged to them, they might pay a hefty ransom for the talking blue cat… The shrewd old man started recalculating his plan. But then again… if someone offered him enough money, their precious little blue friend might be sold to the highest bidder! Once he had him back in the shop, the old man would decide what would become of the Exceed known as Happy.

 _ **Oh no! They got Happy! DDD: Just when Lucy and Natsu are starting to figure things out and think they might be on the road to getting home, now Happy has been kidnapped. Even worse, Lucy and Natsu have no idea! Who's going to help Happy now?**_


	9. Happy Makes a New Friend

A/N: Warning! Light touch of citrus at the end of this chapter! Properly noted for those who rather skip it! Please read and review! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

 **Happy Makes a Friend**

The old man's dank pawn shop came with an apartment attached to the top of it, so he lived just above it. He lived there with his four grandsons. His wife had since passed away, and his daughter had taken a job in another country, leaving her sons in his care. She regularly sent money for their care and they were a help to him around the shop and the apartment. The oldest two worked for him regularly and helped to keep his business afloat. The apartment wasn't much and smelled rather dank like the shop, musty for years of life having been lived in it. The blue Exceed was now caged in a corner of the kitchen, just one light in the corner lit, barely leaving him enough to see by.

 _ **Happy's POV**_

He sat in the corner of the cage, shaken and scared., crying quietly to himself. He had no idea where he was or how to get out of this mess. Worse yet, the old guy had the big dumb kid tie him to the cage with some kind of rope that prevented him from using his magic. They had laid down newspaper and put out food and water like he was some common house cat! As hungry as he was, there was no way he was eating kitty kibbles…

"Aw Man… No Natsu, No Lucy, No fish… stuck in this crummy place and I can't use my magic! What am I gonna doooo? Wahhhh!" he cried out, slumping down to the floor, tears brimming over his eyes. But then suddenly he pulled himself to his feet and wiped away his tears. "Pull yourself together Happy! You gotta think this one though!" he spoke sternly, scolding himself, balling up his little paws into fists. "There's gotta be some way out of here " He began to look around again and eyed the latch on the cage of the door. He strained and struggled to reach it but to no avail. "Dang it! It's hopeless!"

"Whoa! You really can talk!" suddenly came a small voice, talking in a loud whisper. Happy jumped and turned, and then squirted into the semi darkness. Not far away, he could make out the figure of a small boy, no more than 6 or 7 years old.

"Whoa! You scared me kid! Of course I can talk!" Happy Said.

The little boy scooted closer, shinning his flashlight on Happy. /"But I've never seen a cat talk before!"

"Well I'm no ordinary cat, I'm an Exceed!" Happy said proudly, his hands on his hips. The flashing shined directly on him again and his quickly shielded his eyes.

"Wow! What's that?" the little boy asked excitedly, coming closer to the cage.

"Hey kid, could you kill the flashlight? You're blinding me!" Happy asked, squinting at the bright light. The little boy promptly put out the light and apologized.

"So what is an..ex..ex-ceed?" the boy asked.

"We're a special race of feline creatures that come from a place called Extalia in a world called Edolas. But I grew up in Earthland, a different place from here," Happy explained.

"Ohhhh so you're not from here!" the little boy said, nodding in understanding. "So that's why you can talk! Are you really magic?"

Happy nodded. "Yup I sure am! Usually I can fly, but I think this rope is keeping me from using my magic!" the feline said, pointing to the rope. The little boy looked conflicted, as if he was torn between releasing Happy so he could see him fly and not doing so because he knew he would be in big trouble if he let the Exceed go. Before anything else could said a loud grumbling noise sounded, coming from Happy stomach.

"Hehheh, sorry. I'm pretty hungry," the cat said, rubbing his tummy and chuckling sheepishly. The little boy looked at him and then looked at the bowl of cat food on the floor of the cage. Happy gasped and looked taken aback.

"No way! I'd rather starve first! I don't eat cat food! I only eat fish!" he exclaimed, looking disgusted.

The little boy thought for a moment and then got up and padded over to the refrigerator, opened it and retrieved a package wrapped in white paper. He took the package and brought it over to the cage, undid the latch and placed it in the cage, within Happy's reach. He was sure to quickly do up the cage again, checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming.

"There's that. I think it was for dinner tomorrow, but you gotta eat somethin' right?" the boy said, pointing to the package. "Sorry I can't cook it though. I'm too little."

Happy looked at him curiously and then his nose caught the scent. Drool formed at his lips as he then began tearing into the package, finding a pile of fresh salmon fillets inside the package. Jackpot! Maybe this kid wasn't so bad afterall! Definitely better than the old man and the big dumb one!

"Don't worry about it kid! I like it better raw anyway! Natsu always overcooks it! Thanks a bunch!" he said excitedly before digging into the fish full force. The boy watched him eat with vigor and gusto, giggling a bit at Happy's obvious enthusiasm. After he finished, Happy began cleaning himself a little, and he looked at the little boy.

"So who are you, anyway?" he asked. The boy's eyes widened and he didn't speak for a moment. He looked around before he spoke. "My name is Daniel. What's your name?"

"Okay Daniel. My name is Happy! So, what's the deal with the old man? How come he has me locked up like this?!" Happy asked, trying to keep calm, not wanting to scare the child away.

"That's my grandpa. He likes to collect and sell valuable stuff. Him and my big brothers always go out looking for it. I want to go but they say I'm too little and I'll just get in the way!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms and frowning. "I guess I'll have to wait til I'm big like them."

"Hey it's not your size that counts, it's the spirit in your heart!" Happy said, quoting Natsu. That had come at one of the dragonslayer's more eloquent moments. "That's what Natsu says to me when I'm feeling down about being too little and not being able to fight the big bad guys!"

Daniel perked up and smiled, nodding enthusiastically. "And I got lots of spirit in my heart!"

Happy's expression turned serious. "I'm sure you do Daniel. I bet you would fit right in at our guild, Fairy Tail! That's a place where heart always counts the most!" And then Happy proceeded to tell Daniel all about Fairy Tail and wizards in Earthland. About how magic was used by almost everyone and how he bet Daniel would make a great wizard. Happy was being sincere, but he also was hoping to gain the boy's trust. He thought that if he could reason with Daniel and make him understand that he wasn't just some product to be sold or some pet that could be treated like property, that maybe the boy would let him go.

"So that's why I can't just be sold to someone! You understand, Daniel? I have to find Natsu and Lucy!" Happy said desperately, trying his best to not freak out this little kid. The boy seemed to be contemplating for a long while, his face both pensive and worried.

"Well maybe if I ask my grandpa real nice he will give you back to your friends!" Daniel said happily, smiling at Exceed. Happy sighed a little and rubbed his head. He forced a smile.

"But I better get back to bed for tonight. I promise I'll ask him tomorrow!" The boy got up and waved to Happy. "I'll see you in the morning 'kay? Goodnight Happy!"

Happy sighed and slumped down to the floor. It looked as though he would be stuck here for the night. He had tried his best to convince the young boy but alas, the child was not convinced.

"Natsu, Lucy, I hope I can get out of here and find you guys soon," he murmured to himself, curling up on the newspaper, using his pack as a pillow. It was going to be a long night.

 _ **At the Luminaria Home**_

The dinner had gone well and been rather informative, and both Lucy and Natsu felt far more comfortable about getting on the path to get them home. Lucy was especially happy about this. It had only been a day for Natsu, but Lucy had been gone for weeks, more than a month at this point. She desperately missed home, missed her friends, her family. While she enjoyed the company of the Luminarias and was glad to have made new friends during this experience, she was more than ready to go home. Something that Kyela had mentioned did bother her a little though.. The fact that there were 'rips' meant that someone had been trying to or had already successfully opened illegal ports between Earth and Earthland. Did that mean illegal and possibly dangerous magical items been transported between the worlds? Who was doing this and what was their motive? Lucy couldn't help but wonder what the real story was behind everything. Her Fairy Tail sensibilities wouldn't let her mind just 'let it go'. It felt like there was something bigger going on here and she felt like they were caught in the middle of it. Maybe it was just one of her hunches, but often her hunches were right.

They helped the doctor clean up the dinner mess and all sat in the parlor for tea and coffee, conversing casually. Kyela had been asking both Lucy and Natsu about their respective magics. Natsu explained how his fire had worked a little differently here, but Lucy couldn't really say the same. She had no idea how her magic worked here.

"Have you even thought to try your keys at all Lucy?" Kyela ask curiously, looking at the celestial wizards with great interest. Lucy shrugged and then shook her head.

"No, honestly, I didn't know how safe it would be. After the experience I've had with the way people react to magic in this world, I didn't want to take the chance of something bad happening," Lucy explained.

Kyela nodded. "I can understand that, but it might be a good idea to at least try them out, to make sure your spirits are okay. I would think that passing through the portal would have virtually no effect on them, but better safe than sorry."

Lucy nodded and then stood up. "You're right. I've been really worried about them. I'll call out one of them to check to see how everyone is doing. I'll just need a little room." Kyela got up and moved a chair so there was some space around Lucy. She decided to call Virgo grabbed the appropriate key.

"Open, gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" she called out with gusto, calling forth her spirit friend. And with a whirl of smoke and golden sparks Virgo appeared before them in her usual form. The Earth witches sat starting in awe, mouths agape and eyes wide.

"That...is...so...freaking….COOL!" Laeri exclaimed, clapping her hands together and laughing excitedly.

"Wow Lucy, that's some amazing magic," Lux said, clearly impressed.

Kyela looked on, smiling as well. Lucy beamed and then turned to Virgo.

"Hey Virgo! Sorry it's been awhile! Are you guys doing okay?" she asked the celestial spirit.

"Hello princess. It has indeed been a while. Would you like to punish me?" Virgo asked, deadpan, her expression completely serious.

Lucy turned red and shifted uncomfortably. Damn Virgo and her punishments. "Uh no thanks Virgo. But what I really need to know is how all the spirits are doing. Does coming to this world affect you at all?"

"We are all fine, princess. Especially now that we are back in your care. It was a little scary for a while when we were separated from you. That old man got a hold of our keys and that was rather troublesome. But Big Brother was able to put up a block so that he couldn't use his device to detect our magical power. That led him to believe the keys were facsimiles. That is why they were put up for sale at such a cheap price." Virgo explained, then looking at Laeri. "It was quite a relief when you got a hold of them. We could sense that you were good person and would somehow get us back to Lucy. Thank you for that."

Laeri looked surprised and a bit awed, her cheeks flushing with a blush. "Oh um.. No problem, Virgo! Glad I could help at all! " She smiled and gave a little wave. "But the thing was, I _could_ sense the magic power from the your keys. How is that possible if there was a block put on them?"

Virgo looked at the girl and smiled a little. "That's very easy to explain. We also had sent out a help signal of sorts. An S.O.S., if you will. We knew very well that Lucy was no where in the proximity and our only goal was to get back with her as soon as possible." Everyone seemed to collectively give an 'ahhh' and nod, now understanding how this all came about. Then the celestial spirit turned back to Lucy.

"Princess, there's something you should know, though. That shop with the old man, it's no regular shop. He makes it appear as a regular non-magical shop, however he illegally deals in magical goods. Every so often, Loke would find a way to peek out and see what was going on, and he overheard the man talking. There were men in there that had been talking about something called portal jumping and needing a certain kind of magic fuel to start their machines. They were there several times, harassing the old man about whether or not he had it yet. We just thought you should know that, as it might be important." Virgo nodded as she finished,

"Those must be the illegal jumpers!" Kyela exclaimed. "They have been looking nytrisium! It's a rare and extremely volatile substance that's part of the engine fuel for portal platforming stations. Were you able to hear any details?"

VIrgo shook her head. "No, but I do know that in the two weeks we were there, they came by several times and were harassing the old man about it. It seems the materials they were after were in short supply. They bought some other things from him, though. I'm afraid that's all the information I have for now."

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Thanks Virgo, you did great! Your information is really helpful! And I'm so glad you guys are okay. Let everyone know that I'll be in touch soon. Please take care okay? You can go for now!"

"Just call me if you need me, princess!" she said, and with a poof and swirl, she was gone

Natsu turned to Kyela, " So what's this mean? These guys are getting some illegal stuff? Could they be responsible for the place where we came in here?"

Kyela nodded. "Exactly, Natsu! Wherever they set up their illegal portal point, they caused some rips in the space time continuum and that's how you ended up here in the first place. Now we have to figure out exactly what they're up to and where they plan to strike next because if they keep opening all these ports it could cause a permanent collapse. And if a permanent collapse happens, we may never be able to get proper portals open between the two worlds again!"

Natsu and Lucy exchanged worried glances. Kyela noticed this and quickly dismissed it. "No no, please don't worry. If they've been bugging him for it, it means that they haven't successfully made another jump point. I was just speculating what would happen if it continued on without being stopped." They both relaxed a little.

The conversation continue on for awhile more and they made plans visit the old man's shop the next day. Kyela said that her boyfriend would be arriving the next day to help them out. He too was a portal jumper and quite experienced in the field. WIth his help, no only could they track down the source of the illegal jumpers, but find a place where they would be able to open a legitimate portal to get Lucy and Natsu home. Once their plans were set, everyone started to head upstairs to their respective bedrooms. Lucy paused at the bottom of the stairs, Natsu lagging behind her. They still weren't sure about their sleeping arrangements.

"Um… Dr. Luminaria..? " she said tentatively, approaching the older woman. The doctor turned and greeted her with a curious smile. "Yes Lucy my dear. What can I do for you…? Oh.. Yes i see.." she said, noticing Natsu holding Lucy's hand. "If you wish to share quarters, I am not at all opposed to this. You are adults, after all." She smiled genuinely and warmly, letting know that she really was alright with it. Lucy let out a sigh of relief and Natsu was grinning from ear to ear. The doctor then excused herself and swept up the spiraling stairs to her own quarters. The young couple quickly followed suit, making their way up the stairs, Lucy guiding them to the bedroom they would be sharing. Once inside, Natsu began stripping off his vest and tossing it aside and then launched himself onto the big soft bed.

"Nuh uh, shower before bed, You've been rolling around outside in the trees and making fire all over the place!" Lucy said firmly, pointing to the bathroom. "I need to take one, too."

"Aw c'mon Luce! What do I need to shower for! I barely sweated!" he whined in protest, but Lucy stood firm and pointed to the bathroom.

"March, mister!" she ordered, arms crossed and one hand pointing to the bathroom. "Just a quick one even. I don't want to smell like dirt when I go to sleep."

"Fine, fine. Say, you wanna join me? It would be a lot more fun." he coaxed, grinning mischievously, waggling his eyebrows at her. She blushed in response, unable to suppress a little smile. "Not this time Natsu…:" He made a sound of protest and plodded off to the bathroom.

He wasn't in the bathroom long and took a record breakingly short shower, but managed to get the job done. Lucy took a short and quick shower, much shorter than her usual showers at home. Once they were all clean and fresh, the two of them settled beneath the sheets and blankets in the bed. Natsu slid close to her, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her into him.

###### _(citrusy!) ######_

His lips found her neck, nuzzling aside her hair and placing tender kisses up along it. Lucy sighed contently, leaning back into him, feeling her heart beat faster in her chest. His hand snaked around her front, finding the bottom up her shirt and traveling upward until his fingertips brushed over her ample breast, Lucy gasping a little. She turned to face him now, pushing herself toward him and climbing atop him, straddling his hips and stripping off her shirt. He looked up at her adoringly, his rough hands running up her sides until they met her full ample breasts, cupping them gently and massaging them, thumbs flicking gently over the nipples. Lucy moaned out, back arched and closing her eyes, her hips jerking against him instinctively. She leaned forward and crashed her mouth against his and kissed him deeply. He returned the kiss fully, wrapping his strong arms around her and pulling her in closer to him, her breasts pushing against his bare chest. He could feel her hips rocking against him, and his own lifting to meet her thrusts. He groaned in response, barely able to contain himself. They had been apart for so long that they craved one another desperately. Their kisses grew more heated and feverish, more desperate. He wanted more, God did he want more. So did she… but they knew it might not be the right time or place for it.

Their kisses slowed to more sweet, affectionate exchanges, and Lucy slid off the top of Natsu and cradled back beside him, feeling him wrap his arms around her. Though they were controlling themselves, they needed that little interlude after being apart for so long. They snuggled close, whispering and giggling quietly to each other as they fell asleep in each other's arms for the first time in weeks.


	10. To The Pawn Shop

_**A/N: So here we are with the long overdue 10th chapter in this story! I got writer's block with this story for awhile. I finally was able to sit down and get something written for it. Hope you like it! I also want to give a shoutout to all the people that have reviewed so far! A big thank you to**_ _ **DigiXBot, AJ-the-Dragon, Compucles,**_ _ **Forbidden-Hanyou, An Amber Pen, Dimensional Dragon Slayer,**_ _ **KitsuneSOUL 7th Dragonslayer, and guests.**_

 **To the Pawn Shop**

The next morning Lucy woke up in a tangle of limbs and a comfortable, familiar warmth surrounding her. It had been weeks since she had woken up like this. She smiled fondly, relishing in this feeling… It was something she was so used to that she had almost come to take it for granted, but after this ordeal she would surely be careful to never do so again. Her time apart from him had left her feeling like there was a huge hole inside of her, so deep and gaping that she didn't know how to seal it. But it wasn't meant to be sealed; it was only meant to be filled by Natsu. No one and nothing else compared to him. He was truly one of a kind and, as cheesy as it might sound to someone else, he held the key to her heart. Her pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a grunting and a groan mixed with the sound of snores.

"Natsu, we should get up," she said, trying to move. No such luck, she was held in place. Trying to squirm and squiggle her way free, Lucy moved within his vice grip. "Nattssuuuuu c'mon!"

"My Lucy…" he mumbled, followed by a low growl. She smiled a little. He always was a bit territorial, and it was understandable that he was even moreso now. It was only to be expected after they had been separated for so long.

"Yes Natsu, your Lucy," she said, sighing. "But we have to get up now."

After awhile, she finally roused him and managed to escape from his grasp, but not without some struggles and protests. They got themselves up and showered, dressing in clothes that had been left for them. Lucy reminded herself that she wanted to do something nice for the Luminaria family when this was all over. They certainly were wonderful and amazingly accommodating hosts.

Shortly after they went downstairs to join the others for breakfast. Lucy noticed the sound of an unfamiliar male voice as they approached the kitchen. When they entered the room, she noticed a tall, lanky fellow with wavy dark hair and dark eyes standing next to Kyela. They were talking animatedly, sounding rather excited. Kyela noticed them after a moment, smiling.

"Morning guys! Sleep okay?" she greeted, giving them a little wave. Lucy smiled as Natsu yawned and stretched beside her.

"Morning! Yeah, great, thanks," Lucy said cheerfully, looking between them.

"Yeah, man. That was bed was super comfy. Almost as comfy as Lucy's bed," Natsu in agreement, causing Lucy's face to flush pink.

Sometimes he said things without thinking about how it sounded…Kyela laughed a little, and the young man cleared his throat, then taking this as his cue to introduce himself.

"Hey there, I'm Kyela's boyfriend, Jones Walsh. But you can call me Jonesy," he said calmly, giving them a sincere smile as he offered his hand. He shook Lucy's hand first, and then Natsu's, making direct eye contact as he did. He had a gentle, pleasant demeanor, and Lucy liked him right away. She returned his smile.

"Nice to meet you, Jonesy! Thanks so much for coming to help us out!"

"Yeah man! Totally appreciate it!"

Jonesy smiled and nodded, waving his hand a little "Really, it's cool. This is our life's work, and the opportunity for this is huge. We get to help out friends and learn something in the process."

They all sat down to eat, soon joined by Lux and Laeri. Dr. Luminaria had already departed for the day, having to get to work. So the group of young wizards and witches sat together and ate breakfast, devising a plan for the day as the meal went on. They had a lot to do and short amount of time to do it in. Jonesy had a similar education background to Kyela and was also a portal jumper. They both would work together with their team to find a proper opening in what they called the "time fabric".

Jonesy explained how time and space came in layers, worlds connected together by thin membranes of energy. Their job was to make a passageway between the membranes that connected their worlds. He went on to explain how some worlds have parallels, worlds that are similar in nature and content. Earth and Earthland were direct parallels.

"It's believed that Earth and Earthland might have originally derived from the same culture, as there are so many similarities between them. However, the way energy bends and reflects works a little differently between the two. Take magic for instance. Here, we have to use an item that serves as a conduit for the flow of magical energy, hence why we carry wands or staffs. But you guys channel it directly through your bodies, for the most part. I realize that there are that use items, but how you transfer the energy is what differs," he went on to explain, Lucy listening attentively. Natsu looked a little confused.

After some time they finished the meal and cleaned up their messes before getting ready to set out and head to the pawn shop. Lucy was anxious to get going on this so they could work on getting home. Nothing against their new friends, but it had been far too long since she had left Magnolia and she was more than ready to go back. She was beyond grateful to these people for the lengths they were going through in order to help them get home. It meant the world to her. They really had the Fairy Tail spirit about them. In fact, Lucy could easily see them each as a member of their guild.

They were soon off and on their way to the pawn shop, all piled into Kyela's van. As they traveled along, Lucy's mind raced with the details of what they had talked about. She had to be honest.. It was all pretty complicated and some parts of it a little over her head, but they had to do whatever it took to get home. She was nervous. A strange feeling creeped over her as they approached the pawn shop. Something was going to happen. She wasn't sure exactly what, but her intuition was telling her that it was something important.

.xxx.

Happy looked through the thin bars on the cage and tried to listen for anyone coming. Hearing nothing, he went back to trying to use his claws to pop the mechanism on the lock to no avail. But he had to keep trying whenever he got the chance. Lucy and Natsu didn't even know he was here, so how would they even know to come rescue him? They wouldn't have any clue that they even needed to! So it was up to him to get out of this on his own.

"I've gotta be strong...because that's what a Fairy Wizard does!" the blue exceed said, his small face filled with determination and tenacity.

He wasn't going to give up..no way! He had been in way worse situations than this, and there was no way he was going to let this stop him. Natsu and the others would be counting on him to try his best! As he worked the lock, he kept giving himself little pep talks so that he could remain focused. It had to work… it just had to! And then suddenly he heard a noise, and then approaching footsteps. He'd have to stop for now and play innocent. If they caught him trying to escape, they would certainly do something to prevent that from happening. Right now, he had at least a meager chance, but if they moved him somewhere farther from the exit, he might not have another chance to get out. Happy backed away from the lock and moved to the back half of the cage and curled up to look as though he was sleeping.

"I got someone coming to look at that blue cat this afternoon. Very important fellow that's willing to pay a hefty sum. I want you to come STRAIGHT HOME after you make those deliveries. You hear me Robert?" said the old man in his usually gravelly tones as he entered the kitchen from the hallway.

Following right behind him were his two eldest grandsons, the two large boys slumped with bad posture as they walked. They weren't exactly the brightest crayons in the box, but they did whatever he told them to do.

"I said, do you hear me? Answer me you big dolt!" he barked, stopping and eyeing the oldest boy. The boy blinked lamely and then nodded.

"Yeah old man, I hear ya!" he mumbled, visibly annoyed as he turned to pull cereal from the cupboard. He set himself to work on making himself something for breakfast and broke away from his grandfather's attention.

The other boy stood there, as if waiting to be addressed, looking at the old man. He was frowning and his brow furrowed. The shop owner eyed his next oldest grandson and grimaced sourly. "And you, Matthew, you're going to clean out that back room, you hear? I want those boxes moved and restacked. You best not screw it up. And don't you mess with what's in that cellar, dammit. You stay away from there," he barked to him, waving the boy off. "Now get some breakfast and then get to work!"

Soon after the two younger boys surfaced and began to get themselves breakfast, pouring bowls of cereal and then eating in silence. This was far from a joyful family situation. Happy watched through a squinted gaze and couldn't help but feel kind of sorry for those boys, even the big one that helped capture him in the first place. They were just kids and this old man was using them for his dirty work. Daniel had told him that their mother lived elsewhere because of her job and that they had no choice but to live with their grandfather. You could see that the boys were just looking to please him,but he treated them like crud no matter what. The blue exceed frowned to himself. He could never imagine having to grow up like that. Natsu and the rest of the guild had always been so supportive and nurturing. As crazy as Fairy Tail could get at times, he had grown up in such a stable, loving environment. No one had ever treated him the way this guy treated his grandsons, that's for sure.

After a while, a bell started sounding and the old man got up from his seat to go over to a small window box that had some kind of video playing on it. Happy guessed that it must be some kind of viewing lacrima, like what they used to watch movies and public broadcasts. Since everyone's attention was turned away from him, he was able to open his eyes to get a better look at the lacrima screen. It looked the video feed was showing another room, maybe the storefront itself. Happy strained to see the picture more clearly without moving too much or making any noise. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. Squinting again, he saw that it was a group of people...and amongst them he saw a wisp of pink.

Sucking in his breath, Happy felt his heartbeat quicken as he realized what he was seeing. Two very familiar figures had come into view, and there was no mistaking them, even from this distance. The feline restrained himself with all his might when he was able to clearly make out Natsu and Lucy amongst the group. Now he had to find a way of getting their attention!

.xxx.

As they entered the shop, Lucy looked around and surveyed the store. It reminded her of some of the second hand shops in Magnolia. She had bought a couple of pieces of furniture from places like this when she first ventured out on her own. The store was musty and dank, half the items covered in a healthy layer of dust. It seemed that the place had seen better days, and those were likely long ago. Kyela approached the counter and rang the service bell, looking around to see if she saw anyone behind the counter. After the first attempt, they still heard nothing and saw no one surface. She tried ringing it again and suddenly they heard someone calling from upstairs.

"Just a minute now! Give an old man time to move, would ya?" called the rather cranky sounding voice of an elderly fellow.

Kyela looked at Jonesy and he shrugged, motioning to her to say something.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry old timer. We'll wait," she called back, shrugging a little.

As they stood waiting they looked around the shop to see if anything of interest surfaced. A few moments passed and the old man had yet to surface. They began to meander throughout the the store,, looking over different items. Natsu was pointing out some weird looking horn thing when Lucy's eyes fell upon an old glass jar that seemed to be filled with various small objects. When she leaned in closer, she saw there were a couple of old keys in the jar, and one of them looked suspiciously familiar...but where had she seen that shape before? She couldn't put a finger on it, but she felt inclined to retrieve the key.

"Alright then, I'm here. What do you want?" croaked the gravelly voice once again, only much closer this time. They all turned around to see the portly old man scowling at them, hunched over the glass top counter.

Kyela smirked and raised her eyebrows, and Jonesy made a small sound, as though clearing his throat. His girlfriend looked at him and mouthed something to him, shaking her head.

"Well that's no way to greet your customers, is it old timer?" she quipped, leaning onto the counter with both hands and staring his straight in the eye. The old man made a face and waved her off.

"Ah you Luminaria girls just come here to chap my hide. Now I got a business to run. You want something or not?" he countered, his tone growing more agitated. Apparently this family had a history with this shop. Lucy wondered why he was being so gruff with them. _Sheesh. What an old grump!_

"Matter of fact, we do have some business for you. I want to know if you've got any vats of nytrisium," Kyela said flatly, looking him in the face. The old man's face went sheet white for a moment, his resolve faltering momentarily, and then he fixed the scowl back upon it.

"What are you talkin' about, girl? I don't deal in no illegal goods!" he croaked, sounding angry now. "I don't want no trouble from you lot! Especially not you, you crazy witch!"

Jonesy stepped forward and looked hard at the old man. His previously relaxed, almost passive demeanor had disappeared and was replaced by a dead on glare. His mouth was set in a firm line, his broad shoulders squared as he spoke.

"Listen, we don't want any trouble either. We already know from a reliable source that you're selling illegal goods, and we also know you've been providing them to people who are not qualified to use them. We, on the other hand, are qualified to handle classified goods, and will do you the favor of taking them off your hands, seeing as we're in need. Now, to avoid any trouble, we'll just be taking that nytrisium and be on our way," Jonesy said firmly. His tone wasn't harsh or forceful, but it was clear by the old man's reaction that he had touched a nerve.

"I don't have any of what you're asking for! Now be off with you!" he said, trying to shoo them away. No one moved a muscle. They all stood their ground, staring that him. He stared back at them, waiting for them to do something, but no one moved still.

"It's better if you don't lie to us. We'll let it slide for now and give you a chance to clean up your act, but we need what we came for. Fact is, you've been selling to illegal jumpers and there's a pretty hefty fine for aiding them. Sometimes even jail time… you might want to think twice about that answer," Jonesy went on, shaking his head.

Just then a small child came barreling into the room, yelling at the top of his lungs, looking absolutely frantic. "Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa!"

The old man turned to see the child and growled angrily. "Daniel! I told you to stay upstairs and out of my way, dammit! Now do as you're told, boy!"

"But grandpa! I just wanted to-" the boy exclaimed excitedly his arms flailing about as he spoke. It seems he had something important to say, but the old man would have nothing of it. He hushed the child again and shooed him away angrily.

"I told you to get boy! Now out of my sight!"

Lucy cringed at the harsh way the man spoke to his grandson, her brows furrowing as she frowned deeply. It reminded her of the way her father would act toward her when she was a lonely child that just wanted some attention and affection. She really felt for that kid about now… He couldn't be any more than six or seven. And he was darn cute too. _Poor kid. I feel really bad for him…_ And then she felt a familiar warmth close in on her and a light touch on her upper arm.

"Luce… something weird is going on," Natsu whispered almost silently. She nodded and turned her head toward him slightly.

"I know… I have an odd feeling…" she whispered back, glancing at the old man again and then back to Natsu.

"I mean.. When that kid came down.. I could swear.. I smelled Happy."

.xxx.

 _ **Upstairs a few moments before…**_

Happy sat in the cage, watching the two younger boys eat their breakfast. He knew the older was Ryan, and he was 9. Who he was really interested in talking to was Daniel. That kid was his best hope of getting out of here and getting to Natsu and Lucy. But he needed to work fast if he wanted to catch their attention in time. Or maybe create some kind of diversion that would allow him to get out of the cage. It was awhile before they finished their cereal and then cleaned up their own dishes. They were pretty neat for little kids. The exceed continued to watch the two boys carefully, patiently waiting. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Finally, Ryan turned to Daniel, sounding rushed.

"I have to go help Matthew, okay? Just stay up here like Grandpa said, Danny. You know he gets really mad when you get in the way…" the older boy said warningly, and then he turned and went to join his older brother in the backroom to help him clean.

This left Daniel alone in the kitchen with Happy. The young boy leaned out of the doorway, checking up and down the hallway before re-entering the kitchen and closing the connecting door behind him. He scurried over to Happy's cage, greeting him excitedly.

"Hi Happy!" he whispered, waving to the exceed.

"Morning Daniel! Listen buddy, I need some help…" Happy said, forcing a smile for the boy. He was so worried about running out of time and missing his opportunity to catch them. The exceed was visibly sweating out the nerves as his little heart pounded loudly.

"You need MY help? What can I do?" Daniel said, his dark eyes wide with wonder and amazement, leaning in closer to the cage.

And then Happy went on to explain that the people in the store were his friends, and he needed to get back to them. That they would miss him if he was gone and it would really hurt them if they lost him. He also explained how the old man was going to sell him to some guy that very day, and how he needed to get out of there NOW. Young Daniel seemed to understand quite well, eager to help Happy be reunited with his friends. They came up with the plan that he would pet Happy and then go downstairs to create a diversion, so that Natsu would notice him. And since the boy had touched Happy, Natsu would recognize his scent and know that he was there! Happy thought it was his most brilliant plan yet. So now all the kid had to do was go downstairs and wave his arms around so it pushed the scent towards Natsu's super nose!

.xxx.

Lucy gasped a little at what Natsu had just said, but quickly composed herself, eyes darting around the store. Happy, here? But how…? Then again, how did Natsu get here, or herself for that matter? It was wholly possible that the blue exceed had searched and searched until he found the portal entrance for this world. She knew that the only thing that was more important to him than fish was his family, and as annoying and bothersome as that cat could be, she loved him too. If there was even a chance he was here, they would have to find him and rescue him!

"What do we do?" she whispered to Natsu, still trying to not draw attention to them. The others were still talking to the old man. Jonesy looked back at them, noticing the tension between them. He made his way closer to them as Kyela spoke, moving within speaking range of them.

"Hey you guys.. Is everything okay?" he asked quietly, looking from Lucy to Natsu and then back again. Natsu motioned for him to come closer. He explained what was going on and insisted that they needed to search the grounds for Happy. Jonesy nodded, speaking again, even more quietly this time.

"Don't worry, we'll find your friend," he reassured them. Natsu and Lucy looked at one another, and then looked at him and nodded in response. They were up for anything.

Jonesy moved closer to Lux and seemed to be whispering something to her. She nodded and then glanced back and Natsu and Lucy, nodding to them as well. Then he dropped back again and worked his way toward them again.

"Natsu, you and I can follow the scent and see where it leads us. Lux agree to create a distraction, and she might need Lucy's help to pull that off," he said quietly, nodding to Lux standing a short distance away.

Natsu nodded and proceeded to lead the way in the direction of the scent. They had seen the little boy go back up the steps, but they had to figure out a way to slip through the door without the old man noticing. Natsu would have been perfectly content bulldozing his way up the stairs to find Happy, but he knew he better play it cool this time. There were a lot of other people here, and there were young kids around. He didn't want to put anyone harm's way.

"Excuse me, sir, could you tell me where you came across this odd shaped vase?" Lux said somewhat loudly, drawing attention to herself purposely. The old codger looked her way, squinting and adjusting his glasses to see what she was holding up.

"What's that now? Don't waste my time, girl!" he grumbled, hobbling his way toward her. "Now put that down before you break it!"

Lucy thought about the odd looking key inside that old jar. Something really struck her about it, and she couldn't help but felt like she needed to acquire it somehow.

"Sir, could I ask you how much you'd want for this key over here?" she said aloud, stepping back and pointing to the jar that sat on the display. The old man looked at her with interest, adjusting his glasses again as he looked over at the jar. He made his way toward it and picked up the old jar, reaching in to extract the key from it.

"Oh, you like that key do ya? What's so interesting about some old key, hm?" he asked with both great suspicion and intrigue.

Lucy shrugged and smiled, "Oh I dunno.. I just like the shape of it. It's pretty unique, don't you think? I just like collecting neat looking keys."

Lucy proceeded to talk business with the old man, smiling pleasantly and being as sweet as can be. It was all rather obvious if you knew any better, but the old man seemed none the wiser. This allowed Natsu and Jonesy to slip past him and get into the door beyond the counter. She glanced over the old man's shoulder and saw them go through the door. Now all the needed to do was buy them some time.

.xxx.

Natsu and Jonesy cautiously proceeded up the narrow, poorly lit stairwell. Happy scent was growing stronger as they climbed higher. He was definitely here! The only question was, exactly WHERE was he? They came to a hallway that had several doors leading off of it. Just then, a familiar little face appeared in one of them, waving his hand at them.

"Hey kid," Natsu whispered, "You seen my friend? He's a flying blue cat."

The little boy didn't say a word, but nodded and motioned for them to come into the room. The two men glanced at each other and nodded, mutually consenting to follow the boy. They entered through the door and came into a small, crowded kitchen area with a breakfast nook. Over in the corner, next to where the little boy was standing was a cage with none other than-

"Happy!" the dragonslayer exclaimed at the sight of his friend. "Who the hell put you in a cage?!"

"Naaattttsssuuuuuu!" the exceed cried, throwing himself at the bars. "That creepy old guy did! He was gonna SELL ME Natsu! Help me out of here!"

"He was gonna WHAT?! How the hell did you end up here, Happy?"

"Nevermind that right now Natsu! Just help me out of this dang thing!"

The two continued to argue, continuously being shushed by Jonesy, who was quite aware that they were technically breaking and entering. He was trying ridiculously hard to not be rude, but he had to intervene when Natsu had the idea of using a "Fire Dragon Roar" to melt the lock on the cage in order to get Happy out. The poor wizard was frazzled by the time they managed to pop the lock with the small pocketknife that Jonesy happened to carry. Once the door popped open, Happy came flying at Natsu, crying his eyes out as he settled into the dragonslayer's arms. Natsu soothed his best friend and reassured him that they would get him out of there safely.

They then proceeded to make their way down the steps, Happy in tow and emerged at the bottom of the stairs, coming through the door. The old man noticed them and saw Happy flying next to Natsu.

"What do you think you're doing there?! That's my cat! And how dare you enter my home, you hooligans!" he yelled, waving his cane at them. Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the old man.

"Happy ain't yours, pal! You were gonna try to sell him, you big jerk! Where do you get off kidnapping our friend?" Natsu spat, growling and now bearing his teeth. He looked angry, fire sparking from his fists. This might be some old man, but no one messed with his family.

Kyela, who was momentarily wide eyed and staring at Happy floating in the air between Natsu and Jonesy, shook her head and the determined look returned to her face.

"So now you want to add kidnapping and the illegal trafficking and sale of Other World beings?! Man, the list just keeps growing, old timer!" she exclaimed, motioning toward Happy.

"Yeah! You were gonna try to sell me to some weirdo! That was really mean, mister!" the blue exceed chimed in.

The old man looked angry, but he seemed to know that they had him now. There was no way he could deny that he had kidnapped and intended to sell Happy. There were too many witnesses and they could do a lot of damage to his business if he tussled with them any further. The old man nervously eyed the dragonslayer, who was visibly angry and spitting fire.

"Fine goddammit, I'll sell you the damn nytrisium!" he squawked, growling in frustration and anger. Kyela clapped her hands and whooped.

Kyela looked back and Lucy and grinned, giving a thumbs up. Lucy beamed back at her, returning the signal. She then looked at Natsu, who was grinning from ear to ear. They were going to get the fuel they needed for the portal station! That meant that soon enough they would be on their way back home!

They then proceeded to make the deal with the old man, paying him a hefty amount for the fuel supply. Lucy and Natsu felt bad that they didn't have a way to pay for it themselves, but their new friends dismissed their worries quickly. Lucy knew they would have to find some way to repay them. Hopefully now the laws were changing again, they would be able to see their friends again one day, even after they returned to Magnolia. But for now, they had to work on getting home.

Once the fuel barrels were paid for, they loaded them through a backdoor. Natsu, Jonesy and Kyela carrying the barrels up the cellar steps and loading them into the back of the van. Before they all got into the van themselves, Lux stopped Lucy and handed her something small wrapped in brown paper. Lucy smiled at the other girl.

"What's this?"

"That key you were looking at," Lux explained. "You seemed really enamoured with it, so I went ahead and paid for it. And, I think it might be important. When you said something about it being unique, I noticed the shape, and something about it is really familiar."

Lucy's eyes widened and she unwrapped the key. The tarnished silver key had a unique engraving that she had never seen before… in person. Maybe in a book?

"Wow! Thanks Lux! You totally didn't have to do that!" she exclaimed, looking at her again. "And now that you mention it, I think it looks really familiar too. But I can't put my finger on it!"

Lux nodded and then shrugged. "We can take a look in some of my books at home. I have a manual somewhere that talks about magical artifacts from other worlds. That's how I learned about your celestial spirit keys and was able to identify them when Laeri came home with them."

Lucy smiled and nodded. Lux very much reminded her of her friend Levy McGarden in that moment. They would get along extremely well, she thought. Just then a blue blur came hurtling at her.

"Lucccyyyyyyy! You're okay!" he exclaimed, throwing himself into her arms. The celestial mage smiled wide and laughed, hugging the crying exceed. "I missed you, Lucy!"

"Hey Happy! I missed you, too!" she cried, hugging him tight. Tears brimmed her eyes as she hugged him, feeling a pang of joy in her heart. She really had missed the little bugger, and she was glad that he was safe.

They settled into the van and began to make their way back to the the Luminaria house. Everyone was talking excitedly as they traveled, buzzing about the next phase of their plan. Lucy found her thoughts drifting back to the key. Taking it from the place in her bag again and examining it, she ran her fingers over it curiously. There was no mistaking it… there was something special about this key. Now that they had left the shop and were away from any other magical items, Lucy could sense the presence of magic. Peering down at the key, her head tilted to one side and she wondered.

 _Who are you?_

 _ **Wow, long chapter for this story! But they rescued Happy, yay! He won't be sold off to some weirdo! And they got the fuel they need for the portal stations! Now Lucy, Natsu and Happy will be able to return home soon! But what about this new key Lucy has acquired? Has she stumbled onto a new key for her collection, or does this key spell trouble? More to come next time!**_


	11. Gate of the Hunter

_**A/N: Back with another chapter! Hope you enjoy! Leave me any comments or questions you might have in a review! They're always appreciated.**_

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

 **Gate of the Hunter**

After they returned to the Luminaria home, Kyela and Jonesy set to work on a plan for their portal jump. They needed to get in touch with the appropriate people who could authorize their venture. The pair wanted to make sure that everything was done officially and legally. This would also serve as proof for their research and a working experiment for their jump station design, as Kyela explained. Jonesy was working especially hard on calculations and translating some runes that would necessary for their configuration. Kyela had Laeri in the garage, helping her weld some machine parts that would be used for the actual jump station. Meanwhile, Lucy and Natsu were helping Lux with some information that they would need about Earthland for some of the formal documents that needed to be filed in order to do the jump in the first place.

"Now would be the best person to contact concerning authorization for a portal opening?" Lux asked, looking over some paperwork and then shifting her gaze to Lucy. The celestial mage thought for a moment and then it dawned on her.

"You could contact Jura Neekis. He is one of the ten wizard saints and part of the acting Magic Council. And perhaps Warrod Sequen as he's one of the Four Grand Wizards of Ishgar. He's also a former member of our guild. Both are good friends and know us personally, so that should help in getting the authorization approved," Lucy provided. Lux smiled and quickly wrote down everything she said.

"Great Lucy, thanks! That will be a big help. The paperwork part is the tedious part of this process. You can kind of get away with not filing ALL the proper paperwork, but Ky and Jonesy are really trying to make an official jump point for Earthland. This is pivotal for their work and research," the young witch said as she looked over the paperwork once again.

Sitting off the side was a very bored Natsu. He looked as though someone had asked him to count the number of threads in the carpet below them. "Lucccee, this is so BORINGGG," he whined. Lucy scowled and shook her head at him.

"Natsu, we need to make sure everything is in order so we can get home! And anything we can do to help, we're going to do it, dammit!" she said, scolding him a little. He glowered at her, resenting the mini lecture. But he wouldn't stay sore long. He was just so BORED.

Just then Kyela appeared in the dining room, a pair of heavy brass goggles sitting atop her head and heavy gloves that that went up past her elbows. She smiled at them.

"How's the paperwork going?" she asked, looking over Lux's shoulder and surveying what they had been working on. "Looks like you made some progress."

Lux nodded excitedly and showed her older sister a particular sheet she had been writing on. "See? We got most of the information we need from Lucy here, so pretty smooth sailing!"

Natsu groaned again, childishly grumbling under his breath. The three women looked at each other and then back at the complaining dragonslayer. Lucy shook her head at him, slightly embarrassed by his behavior, but that the same time she felt a note of sympathy for him. He really didn't like being cooped up like this, and doing paperwork was amongst the last things he would prefer to be doing.

"Actually, I came in to grab Natsu," Kyela said, looking to him again. Natsu sat up straight, ears perked at the sound of his name. "We're trying to weld some particular parts and can't get the fire hot enough. I though Natsu might be able to help us with that."

The excitable dragonslayer hopped to his feet. "Hell yeah! I'm all fired up!" He flexed his arms as then blazed with his signature fire. Once again, Lucy shook her head, sighing a little, but then smiled. Lux was watching with wonderment. It was clear Natsu's power still awed her a bit. Kyela laughed and waved him over.

"Awesome, that's just what we need. Follow me, Natsu. We'll put that fire to good use," she said with a grin, heading back in the direction of the garage. Natsu went to follow her, stopping briefly to kiss Lucy on the cheek before heading to the garage.

"Don't overdo it and burn their house down! I meant it Natsu Dragneel!" she called after him, watching him disappear through the kitchen door. She shook her head, chuckling to herself. She knew he would have the willpower necessary to not burn the place down… or she hoped so anyway.

Lux and Lucy continued with the paperwork for a while more before Lux decided they had done as much as they could. They organized the papers into the proper piles and file folders, making sure all the T's were crossed and the i's were dotted. After they were finished, Lux turned back to Lucy and looked at her.

"So now to more interesting matters, how about that key of yours?" the young witch said excitedly, clasping her hands together. She was almost more eager than Lucy was. Lucy had to laugh and then nodded.

"Oh! Yeah! I did want to have a look in that book of yours. I'm really curious as to who's key this is!" she replied, nodding vigorously. Lux motioned for her to follow as they we to a series of bookshelves tucked into a little alcove off the dining room. There was a bright blue door that was surrounded by shelves of book. Some comfy looking benches lined the area underneath the bookshelves. Lucy thought it was a nice little reading nook, somewhere she could definitely while away the hours. Lucy stopped when they got to the area, looking around at the various book titles on the shelf. There were a large number of books she didn't recognize by authors she had never heard of. Now she was completely intrigued. She didn't even noticed Lux going to open the bright blue door.

"Right in here," she said, motioning for Lucy to follow and proceeding to enter into the room beyond the bright blue door. As Lucy passed through it, she could feel a surge of magic. This room was protected by a spell. It must hold some great secrets and important information. She felt honored that Lux was allowing her to enter. This was all running through her head as she moved forward. After going down a short hallway, she entered into a large open room with vaulted ceilings and and large windows. As Lucy turned around, she realized that they were surrounded by...bookshelves..and more bookshelves…. Bookshelves that lined the wall for two stories, books upon books upon books! There was an entire library inside their house! It even trumped the one that had been on the Heartfilia estate! There were spiral staircases that led up to the second floor of the library, and huge, heavy, tall ladders along the walls. The celestial mage couldn't believe her eyes. She had never seen a private collection like this in her life. And there were so many magical texts.. The room was radiating with power and magical energy. It was, in short, AMAZING! She immediately thought of Levy and how much her brainiac and fellow bookworm friend would marvel at the repository of information that stood before them.

Lux turned to her, smiling, a bit amused. She had noticed Lucy's awestruck reaction to their library, and she couldn't help smirk a little. It wasn't out of smugness that she did so, but rather pride in her family's historical collection. She came from a long line of Luminaria-Morningsong witches and wizards. And she had committed her life to studying the art of witchcraft and all that it had to offer. Lux was glad to see the sense of appreciation Lucy seemed to have for their library. It made her all the more happy to share it with her new friend.

"Well, here we are. Our family collection," she said with a small flourish of her hands. Lucy grinned from ear to ear, still marveling at the amount of books. "What do you think?"

"This...is...AMAZING! I've never seen so many books outside of a library!" the celestial mage exclaimed. "I'm really impressed. Seriously!"

Lux laughed a little and nodded. "Honestly, I'm often still in awe of it myself, and I grew up around it!" Lucy smiled in return and nodded.

"I can see why!" she replied.

So then the two set to work on finding a book that might help them figure out just what key Lucy had now acquired. The mage knew she had seen it before, but it had been a long time ago. She wasn't sure if it was in a from her family's own former library or a public library. It possibly could have even been in the guild archives. It was really bugging her that she hadn't been able to even gathered an educated guess as to what they key was. It was a long while of sorting through shelves of books before Lux exclaimed from atop one of the tall ladders.

"Ah! I think I found it!" she yelled to Lucy, holding up a large, rather old looking book. She made her way down the ladder and crossed the room to one of the large study tables in the room. Lucy quickly joined her, eager to see if the book held the information they needed. Lux set down the large text with a soft thud and opened the book to the table of contents. She scanned the pages until she found something of interest.

"Here we go! Maybe this will tell us something," she said, looking at Lucy and smiling. Both girls took a seat and set their gaze on the text in front of them. Lucy skimmed the paragraphs and came across what Lux was pointing out.

"Oh! Look at this…" Lucy exclaimed, pointing to a passage of text and read outloud. " _Silver keys are used to open gates of non-zodiac constellations...88 constellations...tetrabiblos… These keys are thought to be more common, but some are just as rare as the Golden Zodiac Keys. It is rumored that silver keys used by Celestial Wizards in Ishgar have, at times, found their way into other words. One of the rarest of these keys is the key of the Hunter, Orion."_

 __She looked at the picture of the given sample and it looked insanely familiar. Reaching in her pocket and pulling out the key she had just acquired, she began to get excited. She inspected the key closely and looked at the picture in the book. It had the same symbol of snake wrapped around a sword, just like the key in the text.

"Orion…" Lucy murmured, staring down at the key. Her mother had told her about this key and showed her a picture of it when she was very young. Layla Heartfilia had told her daughter of several keys that were rare and this was amongst them.

"Oh wow, Lucy… the key of Orion? That sounds important…" Lux said, in awe as well. Lucy proceeded to flip the page and continued to read what the text said about the key.

" _The key of Orion has been rumored to no longer exist in Ishgar where it was originally forged. This particular key has fallen in the category of being a legend of sorts now that it is not attainable. But this key also comes with a warning. The celestial spirit attached to it is known to be rather difficult to work with, having been called temperamental at best,"_ Lucy read. She stopped and frowned a little. Difficult to work with? Oh boy…

"Well nothing is a challenge after Aquarius. She's a hell of a challenge to work with," the celestial mage said, glancing down at her keys. She stroked the keywallet affectionately.*

"No offense meant."

"What do you have to do now, Lucy?" Lux asked curiously, looking from the book to the mage. Her eyes were wide with wonderment. This was something completely new to her, and she was a proverbial sponge for any information concerning magic and witchcraft.

"Well, I need to make a contract with the spirit," she explained with a sigh. "But I think I need to get some more information before I head into this contract. Mind if I summon another one of my spirits?"

Lux's eyes grew wider and she threw up her hands. "Mind?! Of course I don't mind! That would be amazing to see again!"

The blonde smiled, getting up from her seat and taking a key from her keywallet. "I think I'll summon Loke to ask a few questions," she explained. "Loke is the name Leo goes under, by the way." Lux just nodded and watched silently. She was like a little kid at Christmas, waiting to open her biggest and best present. Lucy braced herself to call Loke.

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!" the celestial mage cried out. And with a flash of light and sparkling swirls, Loke appeared in front of them with his signature shining smile and sharp black suit.

"Hey there, Princess. Good to see you again," he said smoothly, flashing her a cheeky grin. "I was wondering when you'd call on me for help," the lion spirit said, straightening out his jacket lapels. "For some reason, I can't just manifest here on my own so easily." As he was talking he seemed to noticed that there was someone in the room with them. He turned his gaze on to the young witch, a different sort of grin spreading to his lips. Lucy's brow furrowed as she cast a knowing glare at her dear Leo.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Princess, how could you not introduce me to your friend," he said, now speaking in a rather seductive tone, praying on the unsuspecting Lux. "Why hello there, beautiful young lady. My name is Loke. Please let me know if I might be of service to you," he said with a grin and a wink. Lucy sighed and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest impatiently. Lux stood frozen, looking both surprised and slightly aghast by what she was experiencing at the hands of Leo the Lusty Hearted.

"Can it, Loke. Lux, this is my overly flirtatious hambone of a spirit and friend, Loke, otherwise known as Leo. Loke, this is Lux, one of the people that's helping us get back to Earthland. There. Happy now?" she said, eyebrows raised and head cocked to the side.

The spirit smiled and gave a hearty laugh. "Aw, c'mon Lucy! You know I can't resist a beautiful woman!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Lucy scoffed and shook her head, hands on her hips. Loke laughed again. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry. Really, what can I do to help?"

Nodding and crossing her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to one leg, Lucy stood, confidently posed and facing Loke. Lux continued to watch. "That's better," she said. "Now Loke, what can you tell me about Orion's key?"

The smile vanished from Loke's face and he went sheet white. Lucy had rarely seen him respond this way. In fact, the last time she had seen him make that kind of face was when she first said she was willing to give up her life to help him...when she fought to save his life, begging the Celestial Spirit King for mercy. Now she was really concerned.

"Orion?! Are you… Are you sure? Can I see it?" Loke stammered, his voice shaking a little. Lucy nodded and retrieved the key, crossing the room and holding it out to Loke. The lion spirit took it from her and examined the key closer, lifting his sunglasses. He squinted and studied it for a moment, and then muttered an incantation. The key glowed a silvery blue, and Loke gasped.

"Holy shit.. It really IS his key!" Loke exclaimed, promptly handing the key back to Lucy. "You better hold on to this. He might actually be pissed if he knew I was handling his key."

The celestial mage frowned a little, looking down at the key and then to Loke. "He'd be pissed? Why? Is he an angry spirit?" she asked innocently, totally unaware of what Loke was about to tell her.

"Well… Lucy… He's Orion the Hunter. The greatest Hunter the Celestial Spirit World has ever seen, the great hunter of the cosmos. No one compares to his skill, but no one can really trust him, either. The guy is moody on his BEST days, and to say he has no friends is an understatement. Even his enemies stay away because he's so damn unpleasant," Loke explained with a grim expression. "Granted, if he's on your side, you have a hell of a battle companion. But the guy is an outright barbarian. And honestly Lucy, I'm not sure he'll bow to anyone. He always says that he's his own ruler and he answers to no one."

Lucy frowned deeply, looking down at the key, thinking seriously for a moment. Was this the kind of spirit that she wanted to make a contract with? What if it really was as bad as Loke and this book said? But then again, what if she always believed things were as bad as people told her they were? A lot of people might have said the situation she was in now was impossible, but look at how far they had gotten. They would be going home soon, all thanks to their new friends. She looked to Loke again.

"Do you know who contracted him last?" Lucy asked curiously. She wanted some kind of back story on this spirit. There had to be something that would shine some light on the subject.

"He hasn't been contracted in 400 years. The last celestial wizard to hold a contract with him was Anna Heartfilia." Loke said plainly, arms crossed over his chest. He watched Lucy closely, his expression still grim.

Lucy's eyes widened a little. Wow...not since her ancestor was the holder of the Zodiac keys. She wondered if the presence of her bloodline would make any difference. Perhaps it would not… She wanted to give this spirit a fair shot, but she didn't want to go inviting disaster.

"Do you think…" she started, but then was interrupted by a bright shock of light coming from her hip. She lifted the fold of the key wallet and saw that Virgo's key was glowing brightly. Lucy pulled the key from it's hook and held it out in front of her.

"Open! Gate of the Virgin! Virgo!" she called out, summoning the spirit to join them. Virgo appeared in a poof of light and smoke, manifesting in front of them.

"Hello Princess. Are you going to punish me?" Virgo asked in her usual monotone voice. Lucy groaned, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. She glanced over at Lux, who seemed rather amused by the whole scene, smirking and then shrugging. Lucy grimaced.

"Sorry, they can be kind of weird," the mage apologized, then turning back to her spirit. "Virgo, what's going on? Your key was glowing like crazy."

"Yes. I had to notify you somehow, and I could not emerge on my own. The spirit known as The Hunter wishes to make meet with you," Virgo explained. Loke gaped at her and shook his head.

"Are you serious?! He actually asked you?" the lion spirit cried.

"Yes. He came and asked rather politely if the rumor was true that we were contracted with the descendant of Anna Heartfilia. I told him this was indeed true, and that she was a very kind and loving mage, and our dear friend. After some consideration, he said that he wished to seek an audience with Lucy Heartfilia." Virgo went on to explain that he looked very serious and rather impatient. She promptly offered to return to the spirit world so that Lucy might have the meeting with him. Loke requested to stay present while the made the contract.

Just then there was a lot of loud chatter as several people entered the library from the hallway they had earlier emerged from. Kyela, Natsu, Happy and Laeri came into view, all chattering away enthusiastically and somewhat loudly.

"Hey Loke! What's up man?" Natsu exclaimed, rushing over to greet his friend with a fistbump and a shoulder knock. "What are you doin' here?"

"Hey Loke!" chimed Happy.

Kyela and Laeri looked on curiously, a little confused as to what was going on. Lucy smiled at them and tried to explain. "Kyela, Laeri, this is Loke, otherwise known as the Leo, the lion spirit. He's one of the zodiac spirits I have a contract with," Lucy provided, motioning to Loke, who grinned and nodded to them both. She gave him a warning look before looking back to the two young women. "I called him here to ask him a few questions about the new key I found. It turns out that it belongs to Orion the Hunter. Virgo showed up and told me that he specifically asked for a meeting with him, and Loke wanted to stay while I did so. So now I have to call out Orion so that I can have this meeting with him." The celestial mage shook her head a little, almost dizzied by the amount of words that had just poured out of her mouth. Natsu looked a little dizzied by it too.

"Oh wow! We get to see you make a contract with a spirit!? This is so EPIC!" Laeri squeaked, jumping up and down in excitement. Kyela raised her eyebrows, looking rather interested as well.

"It's cool if we watch, Lucy? If not, we can all take a hike while you take care of this," Kyela asked cautiously. It was clear that she was the level head of the group. Laeri groaned in protest, stomping her foot a little. She received a stern look from her elder sister. Lucy chuckled and shook her head.

"No it's okay, really. This guy is supposed to be kind of grumpy, so the more back up I have, the better," she said, pulling the key from her pocket again and holding it out in front of her. Natsu and Happy moved to the side, knowing that she would need some room. They had seen her do this several times in the past.

"I call upon thee, in the world of the celestial spirits, I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Hunter! Orion!" she called out, and was greeting with brilliant silver light shooting in all directions and a great rumbling thunder sounded as a hulking man with a sword in hand appeared. He was twice the size of a normal man, and looked to be as strong as a hundred of them. His long dark hair was pulled back in a neat tail, his defined face covered with a well-groomed beard. He wore warrior's garb of a chestplate and armoured plates. On his back he sported a huge wooden bow and a giant wooden club. His dark eyes shined brightly with what looked like a hungry excitement.

"I am Orion the Hunter," he said in a booming voice, addressing Lucy directly. "You are the descendant of Anna Heartfilia?"

Lucy swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Yes, I am Lucy Heartfilia, descendant of Anna Heartfilia and the celestial wizard who has found your key." She spoke firmly and confidently, not letting herself be intimidated by this giant of a spirit.

The spirit studied her for a moment before speaking again. "Then do you wish to form a contract with me, Lucy Heartfilia?"

"If you are willing to work with me, I would love to, Orion the great Hunter," she said with a sincere and cheerful smile. "But I have to let you know, I think consider all my spirits to be my close friends and cherished loved ones."

Orion considered her for a moment and then spoke again, his voice echoing throughout the library. "It would be my honor to make a contract with the distinguished descendant of Anna. She was by far the best keyholder I ever encountered and quite possibly the greatest celestial wizard to have ever lived. Please do not take offense by my words, Miss Heartfilia."

Lucy smiled genially and nodded. "None taken, Orion. So, about that contract. Are there any particular days that you're not available?"

Orion furrowed his great brow and grunted a bit, then shaking his head. "I do not believe in limiting the access that one's keyholder has to their spirits. There are no limitations on when you are welcome to call upon me, Miss Heartfilia. Whether it is for simple companionship or in the heat of battle, you are welcome to summon at a moment's notice."

Lucy's eyes widened a little now, finding herself at a loss for words. This great giant spirit was fabled to be a fiercely independent, severe man who wanted no part of being anyone's servant. But perhaps she had reached him in a way that others might not. Afterall, the blonde did carry on the tradition that was held by all celestial mages in her bloodline before her- she valued her spirits as individuals. She did hope that that was why he chose to make a contract with her. And she would do everything in her power to show him the same respect and love that she gave her other spirits.

"Alright then, Orion. Looks like we have a contract. I want to welcome you to the family!" she stepped forward and outstretched an arm, offering her hand. The giant looked at her curiously for a moment and then used a finger to shake her head, giving a great bellowing laugh.

"Your reputation precedes you, Miss, but I did not expect it to be so literal!" he chuckled thunderously as he shook her hand. The celestial mage smiled brightly at him. She was already starting to like him. He wasn't so scary as they made him out to be. Well okay, maybe he was, but all the same, she would treasure him just like she did the others.

After they concluded making the contract, Orion returned to the spirit world and Loke soon after him. When they had finished, Jonesy popped in and announced that he was back from the store with supplies for a late lunch. The whole group was ready to chow down after all the excitement from the day so far. They all trouped into the kitchen and started to work on making sandwiches for themselves, laughing and talking all the while.

"Hey Happy! I got something special for you!" Jonesy said, motioning for the Exceed to come closer. The blue cat's ears perked up as he heard his name called. He didn't have to be told twice. He made a beeline for Jonesy and the package he was holding. "I hope you like salmon!"

The exceed whooped in excitement, punching his fisted paw into the air while doing a victory twirl in the air. "Yes! Salmon! It's my favorite! Thanks Jonesy!" the happy feline chirped, immediately digging in to the fresh fish.

They all settled down and ate together happily, talking about the next phases of their plan and what would be their next course of action. Little did the celestial mage know that the contract she had just formed would play a pivotal role in how they were to return home. But yet to be known was whether or not this contract would work in her favor or doom her to a far worse fate.

 _ **So Lucy made her new contract with Orion the Hunter. Is this guy trouble? Hard to tell just yet. Guess we'll just have to see how it plays out. Next the gang will be working on the actual jump station and working toward getting Natsu, Lucy and Happy home. See what craziness they get into next time! *And small note- at this point it is assumed that Lucy has reacquired Aquarius' key.**_

 _ **I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed thus far. It means a lot to me that people enjoy reading what I write. Does anyone want me to respond to reviews at the end of each chapter? I'm willing to do so. Just let me know what you think! Until next time!**_


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